JEWETT'S 



FAMILY PHYSICIAN 



THE 



IATROLEPTIC PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, 



CURING OF DISEASES 



PRINCIPALLY BY 



EXTERNAL APPLICATION AND FRICTION 



BY MOSES JEWETT. 






PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

1838. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1838, 

By Moses Jewett, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Ohio. 



3 t*i I-? 



columbus: 

SCOTT AND GALLAGHER, PRINTERS, 

No. 4% State-Street. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface, -_-._-.nv 

Introduction, - - - - - - - vii 

PART I. 

DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

CHAP. I. 
Our Remedies. 

Stimulating Liniment, - 19 

Liniment for Fevers and Fever and Ague, - - - 23 

Liniment for Nervous Affections, 25 

Liniment for Cholera Morbus, - - -. - - 27 

Liniment for Coughs and Consumptions, - - 29 

Liniment for Rheumatism, 31 

Liniment for Head-Ache, 33 

Laxative Liniment, 34 

Vegetable Cerate, 35 

Pile Salve, - 35 

Tetter Salve, - - - ' - - - - 36 

Venereal Ointment, - - 36 

Itch Ointment, 38 

Health Restorative, or Vegetable Syrup, - - - 39 

Diaphoretic Drops, ------ 40 

Pectoral Tincture, - - - -'.'.'- - - 41 

Female Drops, 41 

Alterative Drops, 42 

Essence of Life, 42 

Nerve Sanative, 43 

Brown Wash, - - - - - - 44 

Lotion for Dyspepsia, 44 

Cancer Preparations, - - ... 45 

A 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. II. 



Fever, 47 

Treatment, 57 

Yellow Fever, - 60 

Treatment, - - - - - - -65 

Treatment with our Remedies, - 69 

Spotted Fever, 72 

Treatment, 78 

Scarlet Fever, 83 

Treatment, - - - - - - - 83 

Cholera, 83 

Symptoms of Cholera in India, - - - - 85 

Character of the epidemic in Sunderland, - 92 

1. Symptoms of the Incipient Stage, - 93 

2. Symptoms of the Cold, or Choleric Stage, - 94 

3. Symptoms of the Febrile Stage, - 95 

4. Prognosis, 97 

5. Diagnosis, 98 

6. Appearances presented on Dissection, - ■-.'„■;"- 99 

7. Nature of the Disease, 101 

8. Proportionate Mortality, 104 

Treatment, 

1. Of the Incipient Stages, - - - 105 

2. Of the Cold or Choleric Stage, - - 106 

3. Of the Excited or Febrile Stage, - - 109 
As to the Proximate Cause, or Pathological Inception 

of Cholera, Ill 

Treatment with our Remedies, - - - - 111 

Plague, 113 

Treatment, 117 

Ague, 120 

Treatment, 121 

CHAP. III. 

Phthisis, or Pulmonary Consumption, - - - 123 

Treatment, 128 

Cough, - - - - 131 

Treatment, - - - - - - - - 134 



CONTENTS. 

Rheumatism, 134 

Treatment, - - - 136 

CHAP. IV. 

Dyspepsia, 139 

Treatment, - - - -..'■- - - -150 

Mental Derangement, - - - - - - 151 

Treatment, 156 

Hypochondriasis, - - - - - - - 157 

Treatment, - - - - - - 159 

Hysterics, - - - ^ - - - - 160 

Treatment, 161 

Depressed State of the Mind, - . - - - - 162 

Treatment, - - - - - -' ' - - 163 

CHAP. V. 

Diarrhea, or Looseness, - - - - - - 165 

Treatment, - - - -.',.-. , - - - 166 

Cholera Morbus, 167 

Treatment, - - - - - - - - 168 

Colic, - - - - - - - - 169 

Treatment, - - - - - - - 170 

Dysentery, - - - - - - - - 171 

Treatment, - ' - - - - - - 172 

CHAP. VI. 

Stone, or Calculus, 175 

Lithiasis — Gravel and Stone, 177 

CHAP. VII. 

Hemoptysis, or Spitting of Blood, - - - - 181 

Treatment, 183 

Hemorrhage, - - - - - - - - 183 

Treatment, 184 

Hematuria, or Voiding of Blood by Urine, - - 184 

Treatment, - - 185 

Hemorrhoids, or Piles, 186 

Treatment, - - - 187 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. VIII. 

Quinsy, 189 

Treatment, 191 

Catarrh, - - - - - - - - - 191 

Treatment, 192 

Hooping Cough, 193 

Treatment, - 194 

Rubeola, or Measles, - 194 

Treatment, 197 

Parotitis, or Mumps, 198 

Treatment, - - 200 

Croup, 200 

Treatment, - - - 202 

Enteritis, - - - -' 203 

Treatment, 204 

Erysipelas, ----,-.- 204 

Treatment, 205 

Chilblains, 205 

Treatment, 206 

Hysteritis, an Inflammation of the Womb, - - 206 

Treatment, - 208 

Leucorrhea, 209 

Treatment, 210 

Prolapsus Uteri, - - 211 

Treatment, 212 

Asthma, 212 

Treatment, 213 

Sick Head-Ache, 214 

Treatment, 214 

CHAP. IX. 

Scrofula, or King's Evil, 217 

Treatment, 219 

Scurvy, 221 

Treatment, 222 

Syphilis, 223 

Treatment, - 225 



CONTENTS. 

Herpes, or Tetter, 226 

Treatment, - 228 

Tinea Capitis, or Scald-Head, 228 

Treatment, - - - - - - - 229 

CHAP. X. 

White Swelling, - 231 

Treatment, 233 

Whitloe, 235 

Treatment, -------- 235 

Hernia, - - - - - - - - - 236 

Treatment, - - - 237 

Polypus, - - .. - - - - - - 238 

Treatment, 238 

Dropsy, - - - 239 

Treatment, - - - - - - - - 242 

CHAP. XL 

Angina Pectoris, - 245 

Treatment, 247 

Obstructed Menstruation, - 248 

Treatment, 248 

Mortification, 249 

Treatment, 251 

Atrophy, 251 

Treatment, - - - - - - - - 252 

Leprosy, - - - - - - - - - 253 

Treatment, - - - - - - - 254 

Diabetes, - - - ~ - - - - - 255 

Treatment, 256 

CHAP. XII. 

Congestion, 257 

Treatment, 258 

Icterus, or Jaundice, 259 

Treatment, 260 

Nervous Diseases, - 261 

Treatment, 262 



CONTENTS. 

Tic Boloureux, 262 

Treatment, 263 

CHAP. XIII. 

Cretinism*— Swelled Neck — Bronchocele, - 265 

Treatment, 267 

Phlegmasia Dolens— -Swelled Leg, - 267 

Treatment, 271 

Hydrocephalus, 272 

Treatment, - - - 275 

CHAP. XIV. 

Hydrophobia, - - 277 

Treatment, 281 

Sick Stomach, or Milk Sickness, ... - 282 

Treatment, 283 

Influenza, - - - 284 

Treatment, - - - 284 

Fits. 

1. Apoplectic, 285 

Treatment, 285 

2. Epileptic, - - 286 

Treatment, - - - -■'■'.■- - - - 286 

3. Hysteric, - - - - - - - 286 

Treatment, - - - 287 

PART II. 

TESTIMONIAL. 
Testimonials, - - - - 189 to 381 

PART III. 

PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

Mechanism of the Human Skeleton, - - 383 

Heart, ....... 394 

Lungs, ....-- 396 

Breath, ------- 399 

Head, - - - - - - 399 



CONTENTS. 



Brain, 

Nerves, ... 

Ear, 

The Appendages of the Human Eye, 

Muscle, 

Cartilage, -■-...'- 

Bone, - 

Spine, - 

Joint, - 

Chyme, 

Liver, - 

Bile, 

Blood, --- - 

Kidney, - - - 

Spleen, - 

Intestine, 

Diaphragm, - 

Pelvis, 

Uterus, - 

Embryo, 

Ovary, 



401 
403 

405 

407 
410 
414 
415 
416 
420 
421 
422 
423 
424 
428 
429 
429 
431 
432 
432 
434 
434 



Chimistry, 



PART IV. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 
CHAP. I. 



435 



CHAP. II. 



Acids, 

Alkalies, 

Albumen, 

Benzoin, 

Caustic Potassa, - 

Caustics, 

Essential Oils, 

Decomposition, Chimical, 



445 
446 
447 
448 
449 
449 
450 
451 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. III. 



Origin and Regulation of Animal Heat, - - - 453 

Dr. Arnott's Hydrostatic Bed for Invalids, - - 456 
Hunger, ------- 461 

Aliment, ------ 463 

Diet, - - - - - - - 466 

Digestion, ------ 466 

CHAP. IV. 

Respiration, ------ 469 

Perspiration, - - - - - 470 

Secretion, - - - - - - 472 

Sympathy, ------ 472 

Crisis, - - - - - - . 473 

Somnambulism, ----- 474 

Injections, - - - - - - 475 

Pregnancy, ------ 476 

CHAP. V. 

Irritability, - ." - - - - - 479 

Clinical Medicine, - 482 
Contagion, ----_„ 435 

Antidotes, - - - - - _ 497 

Animal and Vegetable Nutrition, - - - 493 

Saline Bath, - - - - - _ 494 

Application of Galvanism to Poisoned Wounds, - - 495 

Granulation, ---_._ 495 

Hereditary disease, - 495 

History of the Small Pox, 498 

Anatomy, - - - _ _ - 502 

The Pulse, ------ 503 

Life of Man, --.... 594 

Antiaris, ------ 506 

Glossary, • - - . . 509 

Index, - - . . . -529 



PREFACE 



The interest which has been excited, and which 
is steadily progressing among many men and gen- 
tlemen of science in the United States, in relation 
to our concentrated remedies for the removal of 
disease, and the anxious solicitation of our friends 
for a work devoted to the latroleptic practice of 
medicine, have induced us to publish this volume. 

The favorable reception which has attended our 
articles, heretofore published, particularly those up- 
on the subject of cutaneous absorption, has induced 
us to believe that the same candor will be extended 
to this work, and that a desire to do good to the 
afflicted will induce medical gentlemen of science 
to continue to us that aid and patronage, which it is 
our pleasure to acknowledge has been so liberally 
extended. 

Although the plan of the work, as well as the 
mode of overcoming disease, is entirely new, we 
feel confident it will be acceptable to gentlemen of 
science and sound learning. 

It was our original design to introduce, as an ap- 
pendix, a synopsis of Anatomy and Physiology, but 
on reviewing the most valuable works on those 
branches of science, we were satisfied that justice 



VI PREFACE. 



could not be done them, without swelling this vol- 
ume to a size beyond our present purposes. We 
have therefore contented ourselves, by publishing a 
number of important articles on those subjects in 
the Miscellaneous department of the work. 

The Pathology, Prognosis and treatment of vari- 
ous forms of disease, are the most important parts 
of the whole. 

Much care has been taken to render these arti- 
cles interesting, and easy to be understood — and as 
the modes of treatment have been derived from 
long and successful application in the hands of 
men of discriminating minds, we are warranted in 
assuring the public that confidence may be placed 
in them. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the following work, the Pathology and Prognosis of disease 
will be treated agreeably to the best received opinions of the 
most learned physicians of the present age, and we shall state 
some of the principles by which we are governed in adopting a 
new mode of treating disease; and which, though received and 
believed to be correct in theory by some, provided agents could 
be found to effect the object desired, has by others been doubted 
for want of facts so established and developed as to sustain the 
principles referred to. 

Our grand object will be to simplify the practice of medicine, 
and overcome disease with the greatest promptitude and certainty. 
This, we contend, is accomplished by our discoveries of very 
many of the agents wisely designed by providence for the re- 
moval of various diseases, and their application to the system by 
the Iatroleptic practice, or the external application of medicine. 

Our theory, therefore, is respectfully submitted to the learned 
and to gentlemen of science throughout the world. We do not 
claim infallibility in that respect, but as to the facts — the effects 
wrought by such agents as we have thus far externally employ- 
ed — we challenge a world to disprove them: we do not submit a 
negative proposition — we have proved them, and by thousands of 
living witnesses can establish their influence upon the system, 
as clearly as that jalap and rhubarb operate as cathartics when 
taken into the stomach. 

As it regards our theory, we submit the leading facts in favor 
of cutaneous absorption, without which, (or the aid of nervous 
sympathy, or some yet unknown principle of Galvanic Electric 
influence,) our whole theory would fall to the ground, though the 
facts unexplained would still remain, like the elements, un- 
changable. 



VIII INTRODUCTION. 

We have been accustomed to see the progress of disease 
slowly arrested by the means generally adopted, and it is not 
strange that many should doubt whether an improvement upon 
any new principle in practice, had taken place, so long as we 
are constantly annoyed by hundreds of nostrum-venders, who 
profess to cure every disease by one remedy. But in guarding 
against this class of speculators, the wise and intelligent will 
not steel their minds against a real improvement, which has 
been substantiated by the most demonstrable facts, although at 
the first blush the plan might appear somewhat novel. 

It is well known, that all medicine taken into the stomach 
for the removal of disease in some distant part of the body, 
produces its beneficial effect by a secondary influence upon the 
diseased organ. If, for instance, a medicine is offered to the 
stomach for a pain in the head, sufficient time must elapse, be- 
fore the object can be accomplished, for the medicine to pass the 
digestive apparatus, and reach the distant organ through the 
agency of the blood and nerves. Somewhat similar is the pro- 
cess of curing diarrhea by the employment of cathartics — they 
stimulate excessively the already irritated and enfeebled intes- 
tines, and when the cathartic stimulant is exhausted, agreeably 
to a well known law of the living economy, the intestines are 
inclined to repose, their capability of being excited is diminish- 
ed, a langor ensues, and a cure may be the result. Now our ex- 
ternal remedies when applied to the body are readily absorbed — 
they shield the skin against the too rapid evolutions of the elec- 
tric fluid, which is believed to have a powerful influence in con- 
centrating disease. When the proper remedies are applied to 
the head in one case, and to the bowels in the other, they are 
placed in the nearest proximity with the diseased organs, being 
absorbed, and at once brought into immediate conflict with the 
malady. 

Another advantage not hitherto named, is that in obstinate 
and violent cases, by taking at the same time, internally, an 
appropriate medicine, the disorder may be attacked on both sur- 
faces, that, is, externally and internally at the same time. 

The superior advantages which this mode presents are too 
obvious to every one, to be insisted on here. Whatever may 
be said, however, theoretically upon this interesting subject, in 
the introduction of this work, will be drawn from experience 



INTRODUCTION. j% 

atone, as theory? without substantiating facts, is seldom produc- 
tive of any useful end or purpose. 

If we suppose ourselves divested of all knowledge of remedies 
suitable for the restoration of health, with disease and death 
exciting our sympathies, and urging us to the employment of 
means for the relief of our suffering friends and fellow-beings, 
we might reasonably expect that, in our attempts to afford relief, 
we should extend the havoc of death rather than arrest the pro- 
gress of disease, before a knowledge of the nature and effects 
of the remedies employed had been obtained. Nothing but expe- 
rience could remove our embarrassment, and give an assurance, 
in our efforts to relieve the afflicted, that we were not using an 
instrument of death, instead of a remedy friendly to health and 
life. 

We should be wanting in duty to the public at this time, were 
we to withhold the numerous facts in our possession, illustrating 
the applicability of our remedies to most forms of disease, with 
which our country is afflicted. 

If we were to contend, however, that one preparation could 
be so contrived, as to constitute a sovereign remedy for all dis- 
eases, we should have reason to expect an unfavorable reception 
among the most discerning; but our plan will be acknowledged 
to be more rational. 

We combine, concentrate, and extensively compound, the best 
therapeutical agents for various forms of disease. This princi- 
ple has been more rigidly adhered to by us, than by any one 
who has heretofore prepared medicine. For instance — we have 
a preparation which will uniformly cure side headache. We have 
another, which is equally certain in arresting and curing the rheu- 
matism. Whenever, as is sometimes the case, the pains of the 
hip are, by the remedy, transferred to the head, the rheumatic 
liniment will at once arrest it, but the headache liniment will 
not; neither will the rheumatic liniment cure the sick headache 
■ — showing, in an important light, the principles which we have 
adopted, in the combination of our remedial agents. 

On the subject of cutaneous absorption, we would say that it 
is intimately connected with the Iatrolcptic practice of medicine. 
or the curing of disease by an external application of remedial 
agents. As our preparations are becoming more and more ex- 
tensively known and adopted by medical men in the United 



X INTRODUCTION. 

States, and as much of their general usefulness may depend on 
a more extensive knowledge of the subject, we will here adduce 
a few of the reasons which have for a long time been adopted 
by men of sound science, in favor of the doctrine in question. 

The function of absorption is one of the most curious and im- 
portant in the animal economy. The matter of which the living 
body is composed, is in a state of continual change ; old particles 
are every moment carried out of the system, and new ones are 
every moment conveyed to the place occupied by the old, and 
deposited in their room. The constituent matter of the living 
body is therefore never the same in two successive moments. 
This change of the constituent matter of the living body is ef- 
fected by the process termed absorption, and the agents by 
which this process is carried on, are termed absorbent vessels. 
The absorbent vessels possess a peculiar structure, essentially 
different from that of arteries, veins, or any other vessels of 
the body, and their action likewise is altogether peculiar. The 
absorbent vessels consist of two distinct sets. The first arise 
from the alimentary canal, and more especially from the small 
intestines. They absorb the digested aliment, and are the in- 
struments by which the new particles of matter which are ne- 
cessary to supply the loss occassioned by the removal of the 
old, are carried into the system. The new matter, which is 
termed chyle, is of a white color, very much resembling milk; 
and these vessels, when full of it, have the appearance of mi- 
nute tubes, distended with a milky fluid, hence they are called 
lacteal vessels, (that is, milk vessels.) The other set arise from 

/ery part of the body — from the whole of its external surface 
—from every one of its tissues — from every one of its organs, 
so that the point of the finest needle can touch no part of the 

ody, without coming in contact with some part of this system 
of vessels. At every point of the body these vessels are always 
at work, taking up new and carrying away the old and worn 
out particles. But, further, those which are spread out on the 
external skin, and those which are spread on the internal skin, 
on the membrane which lines the air passages, for example, and 
on that which lines the passages of the stomach, are capable of 
taking up many foreign substances which may come in contact 
with them, and often powerfully affect the system, by introduc- 
ing into it these foreign bodies. Whatever may be the nature of 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

the substance contained in this second set of vessels, and from 
whatever source it be derived, it is always without color when 
pellucid; on this account it is termed lymph — and these vessels 
are therefore called lymphatics. The lacteals, then, contain 
new matter derived from the digested aliment. The lymphatics 
contain the old and worn out particles of the system, together 
with whatever substances may have been taken into it from the 
surface of the body. 

Of the real existence and active operation of the function of 
absorption, there is indubitable proof. The great number of 
cases of disease which have recently been successfully treated 
by external remedial agents, without the exhibition of any me- 
dicine internally, might be judged by some, as indubitable evi- 
dence of the truth of the doctine in question. The wasting of 
the flesh, a dissipation of the solids, a diminution of the weight 
of the body, under certain circumstances, while the general 
system remains unaffected, can only be accounted for, on the 
supposition that processes are continually going on within the 
body, (not dependent on external influence) which remove from 
the system both the solid and the fluid parts of which it is 
composed. 

The important fact has been fully proven, that various sub- 
stances, when placed in contact with a living surface, produce 
the same effect on the system, as when received into the stomach, 
or injected into the veins. Arsenic, when applied to an external 
wound, will sometimes affect the system as rapidly, and as pow- 
erfully, as when taken into the stomach. A strong infusion of 
tobacco, when applied to the pit of the stomach, will occasion 
vomiting; when injected into the rectum, will produce almost 
instant fainting, and unless care be taken, the fainting will pro- 
duce death. These phenomena can be accounted for, only by 
supposing that the substances in question are readily conveyed 
into the system. It being established, that such effects can be 
produced on the human system by poisons, through the medium 
of absorption, what may not be expected by a concentration and 
refining of the most powerful therapeutical agents, adapted to 
the various forms of disease, when conveyed into the system 
through the same channel? We have proven, by actual experi- 
ment, that the remedial agents act as readily on the system in 
relieving disease, as the poisons do in destroying life. It has 



XII INTRODUCTION. 

been proven, by direct experiment, that the human hand is capa- 
ble of imbibing, in a quarter of an hour, an ounce and a half 
of warm water, which, for the whole body, is at the rate of six 
or seven pounds in a single hour. Sailors at sea, in perishing 
need of water, have been relieved by a shower of rain, which 
wet their under clothes, and afterwards have sustained life, by 
wetting their clothes in sea water, which invariably gave relief, 
the absorbents taking up the particles of water, and rejecting 
the saline qualities dissolved in it. 

The functions of absorption explain many phenomena con- 
nected with health, with disease, and with the action of reme- 
dies. The agents which produce disease, and especially the 
widely extended and powerful causes of fever, namely, animal 
and vegetable substances in a state of decomposition; these, to- 
gether with the effluvia of marshes, exhalations from the animal 
body itself, and perhaps other noxious gases diffused in the 
atmosphere, afford striking illustrations of its operation. An 
exposure for a few minutes, to an atmosphere loaded with marsh 
effluvia, of an intensely noxious nature, may produce a protract- 
ed ague, or even instantaneous death. Even a few inspirations 
of an atmosphere, rendered foul by the exhalations from the 
human body, may produce, in a person previously healthy, 
immediate nausea and vomiting, followed by severe and perni- 
cious fever. A person laboring under small pox, may contami- 
nate the room to such a degree, that a healthy person, breathing 
this air but a short space of time, may become affected with the 
disease, although the infected may never have come in contact 
with the infecting person. In all these cases, a poison is dif- 
fused through the atmosphere, which comes into contact with 
the surface of the body, and so affects the system through the 
medium of absorption. The free dilution of this poison with 
pure air, will destroy or render innoxious these malignant 
agents; hence, persons who are under the necessity of remain- 
ing constantly in the chambers of the sick, may remain there 
with perfect impunity, if these chambers are frequently and 
thoroughly ventilated; while, if ventilation be neglected or im- 
perfectly performed, not only is the disease of the patient aggra- 
vated, and, perhaps, by this course alone rendered mortal, but 
his nurse is also sure to suffer; hence the value of this further 
fact, which cannot be too constantly borne in mind, that these 



INTRODUCTION. XIII 

noxious agents always affect the system exactly in proportion 
to its want of energy. Exposure to a powerfully noxious agent, 
when the stomach is empty, when the body is exhausted by fa- 
tigue, when the mind is depressed and desponding, will occasion 
a mortal disease. Exposure to this same agent, when the body 
is nourished, when the functions are carried on with vigor, 
when the mind is cheerful and confident, will be attended with 
no appreciable effect. There is no kind or degree of sickness, 
with which a family or an individual may be affected, in the 
management of which, the knowledge of facts of this kind may 
not afford useful suggestions; but of far more importance are 
they, when a malignant or mortal epidemic is generally preva- 
lent. 

Our remedies are far the most valuable antidotes we have 
known, in cases where disease has originated from noxious va- 
pors and an impure atmosphere. The readiness with which 
they are carried into the system through the medium of absorp- 
tion, the instantaneous action they impart to the circulating 
fluids of the body, thereby expelling the impurities of the blood 
by the perspirable pores, give relief to the patient, and stimulate 
and guard the system against future attacks. 

Nor is there less practical utility in attending to the action 
of absorption, in relation to noxious agents which are generated 
within the body itself. When secretion is vitiated, and the 
morbid matter is absorbed by the lymphatics — when digestion 
is imperfect, and unwholesome chyle is absorbed in the lacteals 
— when the excretory portion of the alimentary canal is torpid, 
and the faecal matter which ought to be carried out of the sys- 
tem, is retained there, and in part absorbed; in such cases, the 
sensible qualities of the perspiration, the odor of the breath, 
the foul state of the skin, the loss of strength, the irritable and 
feverish condition of body and mind, sufficiently declare the 
disorder of the system. Considerations such as these show the 
value of pure air, simple and easily digested food, moderate and 
regular exercise, and medicine termed alterative. By altera- 
tive remedies, we mean the medicinal substances which are ab- 
sorbed from the surface of the alimentary canal, and entering the 
current of circulation, are conveyed by this channel to the 
secreting organs, and which, by their influence over the actions 
of these organs, effect a salutary change in the general func- 



XIY INTKODUCTION. 

tions of the body. It will not be denied that all the organs of 
the body are excited to this performance of their functions by 
certain external agents, which are called stimulants — such as 
air, water, heat and so on ; of these the most powerful and indis- 
pensable, in a healthy state, is the aliment. Upon the quantity 
and quality of the aliment depend the quantity and quality of 
the blood, and upon the quantity and quality of the blood depends, 
in a great measure, the energy of all the functions of the organs. 
But when, by disease, the secretory organs have become weak- 
ened and languid ; when most of the aliment taken into the sys- 
tem does but little more than add to the accumulated impuri- 
ties of the circulating fluid, the digestive powers of the stomach 
are in a measure destroyed. In this situation, our remedies, 
composed of stimulants, tonics, and diaphoretics, externally ap- 
plied, have produced the most sudden relief to the oppressed 
organs ; the general circulation is promoted ; the collected mass 
of impurities is thrown off by perspiration, and sometimes by 
the intestinal canal ; the patient is relieved without the occur- 
rence of a tedious state of convalescence. Life can be main- 
tained but a short time under the total privation of food, while 
the excessive privation of it produces effects on the system 
which have not been often observed with accuracy, but which 
are remarkably uniform, and highly curious and instructive. 
Though we are opposed to abstinence in common cases of dis- 
ease, yet there are cases wherein it may become necessary, and 
be obviously capable of becoming a most energetic remedy. 
When the mass of the fluids and solids of the body are too 
abundant, abstinence is capable of reducing them to almost any 
extent that can be required ; and, when a full application of 
our stimulating liniment is regularly made during such absti- 
nence, it is unattended with any diminution of strength or injury 
to the health, but it contributes to the advancement of both. As 
we have made a partial digression from the subject in question, 
we shall continue this digression by a few hints on perspiration ; 
and, as absorption is a function of the skin, the insensible per- 
spiration is intimately connected with it, and its abundant pro- 
motion is effected by our remedies. A learned physician says: 
"The large quantity of insensible perspiration from the lungs 
and skin, together, amounted to thirty-two grains per minute, 
three ounces and a quarter per hour, or five pounds per day. 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

Of this, the cutaneous constituted two-thirds, or sixty ounces, 
in twenty-four hours. After many experiments, the medium 
average was found to be eighteen grains per minute, of which 
eleven were from the skin, making, in twenty-four hours, about 
thirty-three ounces. Admitting this statement to be, in some 
degree, imperfect, still enough remains to demonstrate that ex- 
halation is a very important function of the skin. It is admitted 
by all that the cutaneous exhalations of the skin are more abun- 
dant than the united excretion of both the bowels and kidneys; 
and that, according as the weather becomes colder or warmer, 
the skin and kidneys alternate in the proportion of the work 
they perform, most passing off by the skin in warm weather, 
and by the kidneys in cold. The quantity exhaled increases 
after meals, during sleep in warm dry weather, and by friction, 
or whatever stimulates the skin, and diminishes when digestion 
is impaired, and in a moist atmosphere." Here our external 
remedies become eminently useful; they stimulate the surface, 
aid the insensible perspiration, and give strength to the cuta- 
neous organs. 

The same writer further remarks, — "that every thing tends 
to show that perspiration is a direct product of a vital process, 
and not a mere exudation of watery particles through the pores 
of the skin." If this be a fact, how important is it to health and 
life that the functions of the skin should be kept in a healthy 
state; and how much is gained by an external application of 
durable stimulants, which, when absorbed, do not vaporize, but 
remain in the system, shielding it from sudden checks of the 
insensible perspiration. 

"People know the fact, and wonder that it is so, that cold ap- 
plied to them, or continued exposure in a cold day, often pro- 
duces a bowel complaint, a severe cold in the chest, or inflam- 
mation of some internal organ ; but were they taught, as they 
ought to be, the internal structure and use of their own bodies, 
they would rather wonder that it did not always produce one of 
these effects." 

The idea of curing diseases by external applications is not 
exclusively of modern origin. It prevailed in the earliest periods 
of medicine, and was highly esteemed by the Arabic practition- 
ers, who "applied to the skin medicine intended to exert its in- 
fluence upon the bowels as purgatives, on the lungs as expecto- 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

rants, and on the kidneys as diuretics." In later times, this 
method has been, by several writers, and particularly treated by 
Dr. Jackson, in a work rich in observation and experiment, writ- 
ten expressly on the Iatroleptic method of administering medicine 
by cutaneous absorption. Indeed the Iatroleptic method has 
ever been in practice, more or less, from the very infancy of 
medical science down through the long and darkened vista of 
time to the present moment, and has been adopted by every sect 
and grade of practitioners. The matter contained in the small 
pox virus, if confined for a short time on the arm without a 
puncture, will as effectually produce the disease as if inserted in 
a puncture. The pure concentrated Prussic acid applied to the 
tongue of a dog produces instant death; and a portion of it spread 
on the arm of a man produces the same effect. 

Some have carried their opposition to this doctrine so far as 
to aver that " nothing, whether metallic, mineral, or vegetable, 
enters the circulation of the human body, unless previously assi- 
milated" that is, changed into the same nature of the body, or, 
more technically, converted into nutriment. Of such an ob- 
jector, we would ask if he suppose poisons taken into the stomach 
to undergo this process? If so, how can they be poisonous? 
Moreover, substances, in order to become assimilated, must pass 
the digestive apparatus, a process of several hours, while poison 
acts instantaneously or in a few minutes. It is also generally ad- 
mitted that the lacteals, through which the assimilated matter 
passes into the circulation, absorb nothing but what is con- 
genial to health and life, in other words, nothing but the chyle. 
How, then, can the doctrine be sustained, " that nothing enters 
unless previously assimilated" The doctrine of venous absorp- 
tion appears to be well established; and this would be overset 
if the other were true. We contend that if, through the medium 
of cutaneous absorption, poison can be administered which will 
produce disease and death, so likewise, through the same 
medium, a medicine may be introduced which will restore health 
and vigor. To the objector against cutaneous absorption, we 
would propose the following questions: 

1. Is the skin possessed of sensibility which makes it suscep- 
tible to the action of all stimulants? It must be recollected that, 
in cases of external remedial applications, the nerves of the skin 
must be first excited — first impressed; they must catch the pe- 



INTRODUCTION. XVII 

culiar power of the remedy, and then transmit the impression 
to its appropriate organs, or the organ whose functions will be 
principally affected by its influence. 

2. If the skin possess so wide a range of sensibility as to 
render it susceptible to all kinds of stimulants, why should it 
not take up the stimulating properties of various remedial ar- 
ticles, when these are applied in a solid form, or in powders? 

3. If the doctrine of cutaneous absorption be false, why, or in 
what manner, does the urine become changed, in color, from the 
application of various kinds of coloring matter to the skin? 
Can coloring matter be conveyed through the medium of ner- 
vous sympathy? 

4. If the doctrine be false, how is the sensation of thirst re- 
lieved by the application of water to the external surface of the 
body? But, admitting these effects are produced through the 
medium of nervous sympathy, or from any other cause, the re- 
putation of our external remedial agents would remain unim- 
paired, as they stand on their own merits. 

Their sensible qualities are those of a strong and permanent 
stimulant; they relieve pain by restoring vital action and a 
free circulation of the blood to the painful parts; they remove 
disease by acting in accordance with that theory which makes 
disease to consist of obstructed circulation and diminished vital 
energy; they have so far sustained their reputation with every 
honest, intelligent individual who has become fully acquainted 
with their therapeutical powers. 



PART I. 

DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



CHAP. I. 

OUR REMEDIES: 

CONSISTING OF LINIMENTS, SYRUPS, LOTIONS, CERATES, TETTER SALVE, 
PILE SALVE, VENEREAL OINTMENT, ITCH OINTMENT, TINCTURES, ETC. 

The following are the most important articles of our Con- 
centrated Chemical Compounds, now in extensive use in the 
United States. A general mode of application, in various 
forms of disease, is hereunto annexed. We shall treat the 
subject more elaborately in connection with the Pathology 
of disease. 

STIMULATING LINIMENT. 

This was the first article prepared, and has been attended 
with the most complete success. 

It has been constructed on the principle upon which many 
of our external remedies are based; and though the first, is 
not the least efficacious, and will bear a comparison with any 
medicine now in use. It has been found efficacious for any 
general or local pains in the back, breast or side, pleurisy, 
cholic, diarrhea; and has also proved successful in curing 



20 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

cases of bronchocele, hydrocephalus, local inflammation, 
morbid affections, incurvation of the spine, paralysis, &c. &c. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

For Slight Pains — rub the part affected with the Lini- 
ment, with much friction, and apply a plaster spread with 
the same. Plasters made of glazed cloth are preferable, as 
they exclude the influences of the external atmosphere, and 
do not waste the Liniment by absorption, nor soil the clothes. 

For Severe Pains — in addition to the above, place a warm 
brick near the part affected, renewing it if necessary. If the 
pains be very extensive and general, the Liniment should be 
freely applied to the body and parts affected, and to the soles 
of the feet; and when in bed, place warm bricks to the feet 
and sides, and take the Diaphoretic Drops until a free per- 
spiration is produced; which course may be repeated daily 
or oftener, according to the violence of the pain. 

For Weak Joints — rub on the Liniment, with much fric- 
tion, twice a day. 

For Bruised Limbs — if the skin be broken, apply the 
Vegetable Cerate; if not, and inflammation has taken place, 
apply the Liniment once a day. 

For *ftgue in the Face — apply a plaster of the Liniment 
on going to bed, and place a warm brick, or a bag of hot hops 
or meal to the same. A small portion of the Liniment ap- 
plied to the jaw, inside of the mouth, will be beneficial. 

For Curved Spine — apply the Liniment twice or three 
times a day over the whole length of the spine, and a plaster 
of the same; occasionally, or each night, heat may be applied 
in either of the ways above directed. Once in three days 
wash off with warm soap suds, wipe dry, and then make a 
fresh application of the Liniment. The Vegetable Syrup or 
Alterative Drops may be taken according to directions. 

For Lame Back — wear a plaster on the back, and renew 
once or twice a day; if not relieved, apply heat as above 
directed, over the region of the pain. 

For Cholic and Inflammation of the Bowels — apply the 



OUR REMEDIES. 21 

Liniment very freely, with much friction, to the bowels, and 
a plaster of the same: if not relieved, apply heat as above, 
and take the Diaphoretic Drops according to directions. 

For Dropsy — if in the feet and legs, soak the feet in weak 
lye or warm water, rub them upwards while in the same, 
wipe dry, and apply the Liniment once or twice a day; and 
if the feet are much swollen, bandage them, commencing at 
the toes. If the abdominal region be the seat of disease, 
apply the Liniment freely over that region, and wear a plas- 
ter on the same. 

For Dyspepsia and Liver Complaint — apply the Lini- 
ment with friction to the stomach, wear a plaster of the same 
over the region of the liver, renewing it once or twice a day. 
When there are pains in the shoulders or back, apply the 
Liniments to those parts on plasters. In severe cases, apply 
the Liniment once or twice a day on the whole surface of the 
body, and wear plasters on the parts as directed ; once in 
three days wash off with warm soap suds, then with salt and 
water, wipe dry, and apply the Liniment. In these com- 
plaints, if not readily relieved, take the Vegetable Syrup, 
Alterative Drops, and Essence of Life, according to direc- 
tions. If any fresh symptoms occur, apply the Liniment to 
the body as above, and to the soles of the feet, and when in bed, 
place warm bricks to the sides and soles of the feet; take Dia- 
phoretic Drops until a perspiration ensues, which will remove 
these symptoms, and if renewed a few times, will accelerate 
the cure of all the complaints. An application of the Lini- 
ment to the stomach, and on plasters worn over the region of 
the liver, renewed once or twice a day, for a length of time, 
without any other application, has effectually cured many 
long standing cases of dyspepsia and liver complaint; when 
this course does not soon succeed, it will be necessary to per- 
severe a considerable time in order to become permanently 
relieved. In extreme cases we have found the application of 
plasters made of glazed cloth, and spread with the Liniment, 
covering the whole chest, to be of great advantage. In other 



22 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

cases, where the liver has become extremely torpid, and the 
Liniment did not appear to have much sensible effect, we have 
applied a bath to good advantage. Take a gill of alcohol, 
and add as much salt as will dissolve in it, set it on fire, under 
a chair, on which let the patient sit, covered with a blanket to 
his neck: this will cause a copious perspiration, without any 
diminution of strength; after which wash off, and the system 
will more readily receive the Liniment. In these affections 
the bowels generally become constipated. The exhibition 
of our Vegetable Syrup will generally overcome this diffi- 
culty ; but should it not be sufficient, a gentle cathartic may 
be administered. 

Note. Where the lungs are in any degree affected, the 
Consumption Liniment ought to be adopted. 

For Bronchocele — apply the Liniment two or three times 
a day over the neck, without a plaster; wear a piece of silk 
next to the skin and a flannel over it, and. take freely of the 
Vegetable Syrup, or the Alterative Drops. This course per- 
severed in for two or three months, has uniformly reduced 
the neck to its proper size. If the Liniment does not appear 
to cause a sufficient action in the parts affected, apply three or 
four drops of the Nerve Sanative over the neck, which will 
aid much in effecting that object. 

For Hydrocephalus — shave the head and apply the Lini- 
ment over the whole surface, two or three times a day; take 
our Alterative Drops according to directions. The Liniments 
may be applied once a day in small portions in the ears, on 
the neck, &c, and freely to the bottoms of the feet; the Nerve 
Sanative may also be applied to the top of the head, three or 
four drops at a time. We have known a sufficient action 
given to the system to cure this distressing complaint, in 
some instances, in a very short time; but if immediate relief 
be not given, the patient ought not to despair, as we never 
have had a failure reported to us, even in cases which have 
been pronounced, by the ablest physicians, beyond the reach 
of medicine. 



OUR REMEDIES. 23 



LINIMENT FOR FEVERS AND FEVER AND AGUE. 

This preparation has been particularly adapted to bilious 
fevers, and fevers generally — combining the best concentrat- 
ed medical agents for that class of diseases. The results of 
its use have been of the most satisfactory nature. A suitable 
application of this Liniment according to directions, with 
our Diaphoretic Drops to induce a more speedy perspiration, 
has not failed in any instance yet known, to give a very 
speedy ease to the patient, reducing the feverish symptoms 
with great promptness, and in ordinary cases, overcoming the 
disease in a very short space of time. In cases of great sever- 
ity, a continuation of the remedy for a few days, has gener- 
ally produced an entire cure; and in such cases, the patient, 
instead of being left with a great degree of prostration, and a 
long and enfeebled state of convalescence in prospect, from 
the tonic and restorative effects of the Liniment, which braces 
the system and restores the appetite, produce-s a speedy and 
entire recovery of health and strength. 

In fever and ague, with one or two applications of the Lini- 
ment before the periodical return of the chill, or at the hight 
of the paroxysm, we have never known it to fail of prevent- 
ing a return, and entirely eradicating the disease. 

Under the head of fevers, we shall have occasion to say 
more on the subject of this remedy, as we have the evidence 
from a number of the most scientific physicians of our nation, 
who have, from practical experience, become acquainted with 
its efficacy, and do not hesitate to pronounce it to be of as 
much importance to the human family, as any ever discovered. 

DIKECTIONS FOR USE. 

In slight cases of Fever — the application of the Liniment, 
with warmth and friction, and the patient kept in bed, to 
promote perspiration, will produce relief in a short time. In 
such cases, a convenient mode is to apply the Liniment on 
retiring to bed, which abates the fever, and enables the patient 
to enjoy a refreshing sleep. 



24 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

In severe cases of Fever — let the Liniment be applied 
over the whole surface of the body, and to the soles of the 
feet, with friction; apply hot bricks to the feet and sides, and 
once in twenty minutes, give the patient a half tea spoonful 
of our Diaphoretic Drops, diluted in hot water sweetened, 
until a profuse perspiration takes place. If the patient be 
kept in a profuse perspiration for two hours, and the Liniment 
fully applied to the stomach, the fever will be arrested with- 
out administering an emetic, or the recurrence of a single 
paroxysm. In some instances, there will remain for some 
time, on the surface of the body, much heat, after it may be 
discovered by the pulse, that the febrile symptoms are re- 
duced. In many severe eases of fever, it is recommended to 
soak the feet, and wash the whole surface of the body with 
warm water, before the first application of the Liniment. 
After the fever has entirely subsided, it may be of advantage 
to wash the body with warm soap suds, then with salt and 
water — wipe dry, and apply the Stimulating or Fever Lini- 
ment once or twice, which will add much to the strength and 
comfort of the patient. 

In cases of Fever and Jlgue — when it can be done, let 
the Fever Liniment be applied, accompanied by the Diapho- 
retic Drops, in the manner above stated, about half an hour 
previous to the time of the expected chill, until a profuse 
perspiration is produced^ or, if the chill arrives before the 
application can be made, then, during the paroxysm of chill 
or succeeding fever, apply the Fever Liniment in the same 
manner, which will very generally arrest the disease, and 
prevent a return of chill or fever; and the patient, by ap- 
plying the Liniment once or twice a day, for a few days, will 
be entirely restored to health and strength. 

The object of the Diaphoretic Drops is to produce, more 
speedily, a copious perspiration, and to aid in regulating the 
tone of the stomach; if they should not be at hand, warm 
herb tea can be substituted, though the drops are more prompt, 
and have a more extensive and beneficial operation. 

Many persons, after undergoing a copious perspiration by 



OUR REMEDIES. 25 

means of the Fever Liniment, upon its subsiding, have appre- 
hensions of taking cold — to prevent which, it is important to 
make free application of Stimulating or Fever Liniment to 
the body, as that previously applied, has become absorbed into 
the system. This course renders the patient less liable to the 
effects of the atmosphere, and is indispensibly necessary to 
invigorate by the tonic properties, and overcome the debili- 
tating and febrile symptoms. This course should be repeated 
once or twice a day for a while, even if no paroxysm of fever 
should occur after the attack is arrested. 

Where these directions have been fully attended to, we 
have never known an unfavorable result. 

Scarlet Fever and Measels — are cured by the use of the 
remedies used for fever, with a readiness seldom produced 
by any other applications. 

For Small Pox and Chicken Pox — this Liniment may 
be used as in cases of other fevers, accompanied with Diapho- 
retic Drops. They determine the disease to the surface of 
the body, and uniformly prevent the fatal effects of its strik- 
ing to the vitals. 

We have witnessed the most decided advantage by the ap- 
plication of this Liniment to the surface of the body, in cases of 
internal as well as external inflammation. It produces action 
which causes the inflammation to subside, and reduces the 
inflamed parts to a healthy temperature; and the same Lini- 
ment, when applied to the extremities, which have become 
cold, will raise the heat and create a healthy circulation. 

Note. — In all cases where there is any difficulty in causing 
a profuse perspiration readily, by the usual treatment, we 
wish to impress the importance of applying the alcoholic 
vapor bath, as laid down in this work. In extreme cases, the 
object will be more readily effected by first applying the Lini- 
ment over the whole surface of the body. 

LINIMENT FOR NERVOUS AFFECTIONS. 

This article comprises some of the most valuable medicinal 
agents for quieting, composing, and restoring the nerves to a 
4 



26 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

healthy action; and its success has been very great in cases of 
long standing nervous irritation, and in cases of convulsive 
fits; and will generally succeed in hysteria, epilepsy, and St. 
Vitus' dance. It has entire reference to diseases depending 
upon the derangement of the nerves, and competent to afford 
great and permanent relief. In a complication of disorders, 
where the nervous system is affected, it is recommended to 
be used in connection with another Liniment adapted to the 
case of the patient. In the testimony of cures, parallel cases 
have been given, of using two Liniments on different parts 
of the body at the same time with success. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

Apply the Liniment to the neck, breast, the whole length 
of the spine, and the inside of the arms, thighs, and legs, once 
or twice a day, until relief is obtained. Sometimes the Lini- 
ment has been applied to the crown of the head, and spread on 
plasters, to the bottoms of the feet, to good advantage. Also, 
take a tea-spoonful of our Vegetable Syrup three times a day. 
When the Vegetable Syrup cannot be obtained, take our Al- 
terative Drops according to directions. 

For Asthma — apply the Liniment to the throat and neck 
generally, and on plasters, to the breast and between the 
shoulders; at the same time, take two or three times a day 
our Pectoral Tincture, and in severe cases sufficient of them 
to produce slight vomiting — also bathe the feet in warm water, 
dry them, and apply the Liniment to the soles of the feet, 
and when in bed, place a warm brick to them. The Nerve 
Sanative and Essence of Life are used to good advantage in 
this complaint. 

For Mental Derangement — shave the hair from the head, 
apply the Liniment three times a day over the head, neck, 
and breast, and the whole length of the spine, and apply our 
Stimulating Liniment to the breast, bowels, and bottoms of 
the feet; take the Vegetable Syrup according to directions, or 
if not to be obtained, take the Pectoral Tincture in small 
doses of four to six drops, three times a day for one week, 



OUR REMEDIES. 27 

and then increase so as to cause vomiting. Apply the saline 
bath twice a week, which is made by adding about three 
quarts of salt to twelve pailsful of water, made as warm as 
can be borne; in which bathe the patient fifteen minutes, wipe 
dry, and apply the Liniment. The Liniment should be ap- 
plied in the ears twice a day, and once a day a small portion 
in the nostrils. The Nerve Sanative must be applied to the 
top of the head, and the whole length of the spine, in small 
portions. The Essence of Life may be taken, mixed with 
the Vegetable Syrup, three times a day. 

This Liniment is used to advantage, when the patient's 
nervous system has become so deranged, as to be unable to 
bear more powerful treatment. 

Females, affected with nervous and uterine affections, will 
find this Liniment beneficial. 

Sometimes, in chronic complaints, where the nerves are 
very irritable, we find it advantageous to apply this Liniment 
generally to the body, until relief is obtained, and then make 
use of the Stimulating Liniment. 

As the nerves are the seat of a great number of the most 
afflicting diseases, it is important that every aid should be put 
in requisition for their relief. We venture to say that no 
remedies possess more power than our Nerve Sanative and 
Essence of Life; but as they are articles which have not long 
been before the public, we shall notice them fully in the course 
of this work. 

LINIMENT FOE CHOLERA MORBUS 

Is offered as a valuable remedy for cholera morbus, cholera 
infantum, diarrhea, cholic, and all bowel complaints. The 
speedy effect it has in giving relief, more so, it is believed, 
than by any remedies internally administered — the ease of 
its application, particularly in the cases of children, who so 
often suffer from these complaints, presenting such obstacles 
to the administration of nauseous remedies — together with 
the benefit of having a remedy always ready for use — are 



2S DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT, 

advantages of great importance, and highly useful to persons 
and families when traveling. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

In cases of Cholera Morbus — apply the Liniment to the 
stomach, bowels, and bottoms of the feet, and also apply hot 
bricks to the sides and feet in severe cases. Use freely of our 
Diaphoretic Drops, until perspiration takes place. This Lini- 
ment alone has cured an immense number of cases of cholera 
infantum, without any other remedies, and the ease of its ap- 
plication to children renders it extremely useful. 

In common Diarrhea — relief can be obtained generally 
in a few hours, by rubbing the stomach and bowels with the 
Liniment, and wearing a plaster of the same on the stomach. 

In cases of Bilious Cholic, and Spasmodic Affections 
of the Stomach and Bowels — this Liniment may be applied 
to good advantage. Where the pains or cramps are severe, 
apply the Liniment freely to the region of the pain, placing 
a warm brick to the same, which facilitates the absorption of 
the Liniment; take freely of the Pectoral Tincture in prefer- 
ence to Diaphoretic Drops, as they will cause speedy relief, 
by producing immediate and easy vomiting, without cramping 
the stomach. When relief is obtained by these remedies, 
the bowels generally become regular without any recourse to 
physic. 

In Dysentery and cases of Hemorrhage — apply the Lini- 
ment to the stomach, bowels, and at the termination of the 
spine; take the Drops as before directed, and apply hot cloths 
to the bowels, and a hot brick to the feet. In addition to this, 
let the patient drink freely of warm tea made of smartweed 
sweetened, with a little milk added. 

We speak with confidence of the valuable properties of 
these remedies. Were it in our power, we would not rest 
until the hundreds of thousands of mothers in the United 
States, who yearly mourn the loss of children, should be made 
fully acquainted with the fact, that relief has uniformly been 



OUR REMEDIES. 29 

obtained by these remedies, where they have been properly 
exhibited. 

LINIMENT FOR COUGHS AND CONSUMPTIONS, 

Has proved, for the disease for which it is adopted, a most 
valuable remedy, as will readily be observed by adverting to 
the cases reported. It has relieved the most distressing 
coughs, lingering cases of consumption, and diseases of the 
lungs. It operates by arresting the decay of the lungs, re- 
leasing the corrupted matter, and causing it to be discharged 
by the mouth or intestinal canal, and proves healing to the 
lungs. At the same time, highly useful tonics and puri- 
fiers of the blood, are introduced into the system, by means 
of the Liniment, and the use of our Vegetable Syrup, which 
is intended to be used in connection with it, as a most valua- 
ble and important addition. Cases of the most alarming na- 
ture, and of many years suffering, have been, by a regular 
use of these remedies, entirely relieved, and permanetly cured, 
as can be proved by the most undoubted testimony. 

In whooping cough, the Liniment and Syrup have pro- 
duced immediate relief, and effected speedy cures. In com- 
mon colds or slight coughs, relief can generally be obtained 
by the use of the Liniment alone. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

In cases where the Lungs are inflamed only — and the 
patient has not for a great length of time been subject to a 
cough — relief may be granted by applying our Cough Lini- 
ment to the side, and between the shoulders, two or three 
times a day; at the same time taking the Vegetable Syrup, or 
if that be not at hand, take from four to twelve drops of the 
Pectoral Tincture, three times a day, and at night apply plas- 
ters spread with the Liniment, and a warm brick to the bot- 
tom of the feet, and take some warm herb tea to cause free 
perspiration; at the same time, Tonic Bitters may be taken 
two or three times a day, to sustain the strength of the pa- 
tient. In more advanced stages, where the patient shall have 



SO DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

been afflicted with a slight cough a long time, pains in the 
breast, sides and shoulder-blades, hemiplegia, and emaciation, 
with evident symptoms of the lungs having become ulcerated, 
a more elaborate course ought to be pursued — the Liniment 
should be worn on plasters, applied to the breast, back, and 
on the bottom of the feet, renewed twice a day. If the sys- 
tem has become very impure, this will cause small pustules 
to appear on the surface in two or three days, which will dis- 
charge virulent pus. The parts should be washed with warm 
castile soap suds at each dressing; and once in two or three 
days, the patient should be washed entire in warm soap suds, 
then in salt and water, make free use of the flesh brush, and 
apply the Liniment again. The Liniment should also be 
rubbed over the whole body, particularly the throat and spine. 
If the pustules become too sore for the Liniment to be borne 
on them, the Vegetable Create may be applied for a few dress- 
ings, and then the Liniment resumed. The Cough Syrup 
should be taken three times a day, in tea or table-spoonful 
doses, as the tickling sensation attending the cough may de- 
mand. The Pectoral Tincture must also be administered in 
doses of from three to twelve drops as occasion may require. 
This article is one of the best expectorants known; and when 
taken in large doses, excites nausea and vomiting, but we 
seldom find it necessary to produce this effect. If the patient 
has chronic wandering pains, an under dress of white silk is 
valuable to be worn. The diet should be light, exercise mo- 
derate, night and damp air avoided, and the feet kept warm. 
In cases of ulceration, this course will generally cause a dis- 
charge of matter in two or three days, sometimes by vomit- 
ing, and at other times, by the intestinal canal. If port wine 
be agreeble to the patient, it may be taken in small quantities. 
We have known some instances of sudden relief by the 
course here recommended. In such cases, it will be absolute- 
ly necessary for the patient to follow up the remedies, or at 
least apply the Liniment for a considerable length of time to 
confirm the cure. But if, through the agency of external 
remedies, the morbific matter can be expelled from the sys- 



OUR REMEDIES. 31 

lem, the digestive organs restored to a healthy tone, and the 
whole functions of the body strengthened, there is much 
gained towards the restoration of health. These effects, it 
has appeared, we have been enabled to produce, principally, 
by our remedies externally applied; for by the use of the 
Liniment on the stomach and bowels, we have frequently 
known a healthy state of both to take place, though not always 
without the aid of some medicine taken into the stomach. 

To aid in the relief of the cough, we sometimes prepare 
a syrup in the following manner: take two pounds of turnips, 
and skin them one third of an inch thick; two pounds of loaf 
sugar pulverized: place a layer of the turnips in a bake-oven, 
and so on alternately — then cover it tight, and place it over a 
slow fire, for three hours — then strain it and bottle it for use. 
Dose — one table spoonful three times a day. Covering the 
chest with a jacket of glazed cloth, spread with the Liniment, 
as recommended in some other cases, has effected a cure in 
many instances when all other means had failed. 

It has been with much diffidence that we have published 
some of the results of experiments made with our remedies, 
in cases of consumption. We never have spoken confidently 
in this matter, until we had treated a large number of cases, 
which had been given up by all orders of physicians as incura- 
ble. These favorable results, together with the testimonials 
from almost every section of the United States, vouched by 
physicians, clergymen, and gentlemen of undoubted veracity, 
have induced us to publish the most successful practice by 
which patients, laboring under pulmonary complaints, have 
been relieved. 

LINIMENT FOR RHEUMATISM, 

For inflammatory rheumatism, sciatic affections, common 
rheumatism, local pains, and affections of the gout, is recom- 
mended with confidence for these excruciating complaints, as 
a remedy possessing more power to relieve, and to perform a 
more radical cure, than has been generally accomplished by 
any other means. 



32 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 



For Inflammatory Rheumatism — apply the Liniment 
once a day over the whole body, with friction — keep warm, 
and make free use of our Diaphoretic Drops. When the pain 
is deeply seated, a plaster spread with the Liniment must be 
worn over the part, and a bag of hot hops or meal, or a hot 
brick applied thereto. If relief is not directly obtained by 
these means, apply the Liniment more frequently. 

For the Gout — if in the feet or legs, soak them in weak 
lye, wipe dry and apply the Liniment freely, wrap in flannel, 
and when in bed, place warm bricks to them, renewing them 
as they get cool. Take the Vegetable Syrup and Diaphoretic 
Drops according to directions. If the joints be swollen, 
plasters of the same Liniment must be worn over the region 
of the affected parts, renewed once or twice a day; and if the 
parts are painful, a bag of w T arm oats or hops ought to be ap- 
plied over the plaster. If the case be of long standing, the 
Vegetable Syrup and Diaphoretic Drops may be given com- 
bined together, and as a change, the Diaphoretic Drops may 
be occasionally omitted, and the Alterative Drops or Nerve 
Sanative may be adopted. Sometimes we have known these 
preparations to be continued a number of days without an 
apparent beneficial effect, and afterwards the patient, by per- 
severance, has been cured by them. 

The Nerve Sanative, taken in small doses of two drops, 
and applied outwardly on the affected limb, has proven an 
excellent auxiliary in the gout. After heating up the affected 
limbs for a number of days, if the heat become severe, we cool 
the parts by an application of the Vegetable Cerate, for a day 
or two, which will also allay the pain, but there is nothing 
equal to the Nerve Sanative in extreme cases. A sweat may 
be administered by the use of alchohol and salt, as heretofore 
directed, occasionally to good advantage. 

If in the Breast — apply the Liniment to the breast freely; 
take Vegetable Syrup and Pectoral Tincture. 

If in the Head — make similar applications to the head, 



OUR REMEDIES. 33 

neck, and spine, and use the Syrup and Pectoral Tincture. In 
paroxysms of fever, or in extreme cases, if perspiration is not 
produced speedily, the patient should be rubbed with the 
Fever Liniment, apply hot bricks, take Diaphoretic Drops, 
and plentifully of hot herb tea, until a free, copious perspira- 
tion is produced. In either of the above cases, much benefit 
would be derived by an occasional use of the saline bath, 
which is made by about three quarts of salt, to twelve pailsful 
of water, made as warm as can be borne, in which bathe the 
the patient fifteen minutes, wipe dry, and make an application 
of the Liniment. 

N. B. In very severe cases of rheumatism, when the sys- 
tem is generally affected, if relief is not obtained by the 
means directed, the patient is advised to adopt the same course 
as is recommended in extreme cases of the gout. 

For Numb Palsy — the Liniment may be applied three or 
four times a day over the affected parts, and once in four days 
steam those parts in bitter herbs, wash off, wipe dry, and then 
apply the Liniment, and take freely of our Diaphoretic 
Drops. This course, persevered in, has cured cases of very 
long standing. An occasional use of the saline bath would 
be advantageous. If the disease be of long standing, and the 
system be deranged, the patient will find much advantage, after 
the first application of the Liniment, in taking an emetic of 
our Pectoral Tincture, and perhaps it may be necessary to 
repeat it two or three times. 

LINIMENT FOR HEADACHE, 

Is competent to relieve, immediately, the most severe cases 
of headache with a single application, and in a short time to 
effect an entire cure of longstanding sick headache — a disease 
of the most distressing nature, suffered by numberless persons 
for years, without more than temporary relief, and often diffi- 
cult to obtain that result. It is positively known that a fair 
trial of the Liniment icill effect a radical cure. 
5 



34 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT, 



DIKECTIONS FOR USE. 



Apply the Liniment freely, with much friction, over the 
forehead, crown of the head, back of the neck, spine, and 
the breast. 

For Sick Headache — in ordinary cases, apply as above, 
wrap a silk handkerchief round the head, and apply plasters, 
with a hot brick, to the feet. In more severe cases of long 
standing, make the above application daily, and wear a small 
plaster on the back of the neck, and sometimes a small quan- 
tity of the Liniment, inserted in each nostril and the ears, 
which, though for a few minutes, will be pungent, will give 
immediate relief. If the stomach be foul, take ten or twenty 
drops of our Pectoral Tincture, or a sufficient quantity to cause 
a gentle vomiting, which will be effected with these drops, 
without the least danger of cramping the stomach, and relief 
will be immediately gained. 

We have seldom witnessed cases so severe as to render all 
these applications necessary. We have the evidence in a 
number of instances, where immediate and permanent relief 
has been given in cases of chronic sick headache, by the ap- 
plication of the Liniment alone. 

LAXATIVE LINIMENT. 

This Liniment is competent to effect a passage of the bow- 
els, which have for a long time been constipated, and where 
the patient is much emaciated, and a cathartic is indicated, 
this method of procuring a passage is peculiarly advantageous, 
as the object is effected without weakening the patient. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

Apply the Liniment to the stomach and abdominal region 
freely, and also on the small of the back and bottom of the 
feet, and place warm cloths to the bowels, and hot bricks to 
the feet. Sometimes a passage is effected by these means in 
a few minutes, without the recurrence of pain. 



OUR REMEDIES. 35 



VEGETABLE CERATE, 

For burns, ulcers, wounds, salt rheum, scald head, chapped 
hand, and almost every eruption that appears on the skin. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

For Burns, Cuts, and Ulcerations — it should be used by 
spreading on very thin leather. These plasters should not be 
removed under thirty-six or forty-eight hours. 

In Scald Head — the hair should be closely shaved, and 
every day the sore surface thoroughly cleansed with hard 
soap and warm water. The Cerate should be applied over 
the affected part three times a day, liberally, covered with 
thin muslin or netting, to prevent the annoyance of flies; any 
other covering appears to keep the sores too warm. Con- 
tinue this course ten or twelve days; then have recourse to 
our Tetter Salve, and continue the use of it in the same way, 
until a cure is accomplished. 

When the general health appears to be affected, or the cure 
progresses slowly, rubbing the whole body every second or 
third night with our Stimulating Liniment, being first cleans- 
ed in soap and water, will greatly expedite a cure. 

To cleanse the system, the patient may take our Alterative 
Drops, as directed. 

Many astonishing effects have been produced, in cases of 
broken bones, with the Cerate. In small fractures, let the 
limb be bound up, covered with the Cerate, after the bones have 
been adjusted, and remain two or three days without dressing, 
which will much accelerate a cure. 

PILE SALVE. 

A variety of cases of piles, even of the most obstinate 
character, of many years' standing, have been effectually 
cured by this application. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

Rub the Salve freely about and up the anus daily, and in 



36 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

extreme cases, several times in twenty-four hours, inserting 
as far up as can be reached; at the same time, take two or 
three times a day of Stoughton's Bitters, or any other suitable 
tonic. In severe cases, our Stimulating Liniment may be 
used by rubbing it on the bowels and back, and spread on 
plasters worn on the same places, which will have a tendency 
to regulate the stomach and the bowels, by which the cure 
will be accelerated. 

The Pile Salve, alone, is competent to effect a cure in most 
cases. 

TETTEH SALVE. 

This Salve is particularly designed for the cure of tetters 
and ringworms, and to succeed the use of our Vegetable 
Cerate, in the cure of scald head. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

For Tetters, Ringworms, fyc. — apply the Salve, by rub- 
bing the parts affected once a day, or oftener, cleansing with 
soap and water daily. 

For Chapped Hands — a little rubbed upon the same for 
two or three nights successively, will seldom fail of curing. 
A single application will, in slight cases, entirely relieve, and 
the parts assume a healthy appearance by the return of the 
ensuing morning. 

. VENEREAL OINTMENT. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

Apply the Venereal Ointment two or three times a day 
on the affected parts; at the same time rub the whole surface 
of the body with our Stimulating Liniment, with the excep- 
tion of the parts above named. Drink freely of a tea made 
one-fourth of sassafras, and~three-fourths of sarsaparilla, or if 
that cannot be obtained, substitute burdock root. Keep the 
bowels open with a gentle physic, and occasionally take a few 
drops of balsam copaiva, dropped on sugar. 



OUR REMEDIES. 



Note. — Though many confirmed cases of venereal have 
been relieved by the above prescription, we intended them 
more particularly for common cases of gonorrhea, in which, 
generally, the patient may procure the medicine and cure 
himself. But in advanced stages of the disease, and particu- 
larly syphilis, the following directions will be found import- 
ant. If the patient be afflicted with ulcers, let them be wash- 
ed with castile soap suds daily, and then apply the Brown 
Wash; after which, apply the Venereal Ointment, until the 
venereal virus is entirely eradicated, when the sores may be 
cured by applying plasters spread with Cerate, and renewed 
daily. At the same time of these applications, let the patient 
take half a wine glass of the Vegetable Syrup four times a 
day, and drink freely of sarsaparilla tea. The Syrup is far 
preferable to any preparation heretofore known, in cleansing 
the blood from the venereal taint; and although an immediate 
effect will not be discoverable, yet when persevered in, it will 
restore the system to health. It may be necessary to use 
the Syrup five or six weeks in very obstinate cases. 

The above contains the most sure, prompt, and efficacious 
course of treatment for this disease. Some of the most loath- 
some cases have been cured by it. 

The course we recommend can be understood and adopted 
by the patient himself, without exposing his situation to the 
physician. Thousands of young men have suffered this dis- 
ease to run on until their constitutions were destroyed, from 
fear of making their situation known. If the patient shall 
entirely abstain from ardent spirits, and persevere in the above 
course, however bad his case may be, we do not hesitate to 
warrant a cure. 

When chancres appear, which will be known by the little 
eruptions, scabs, and ulcers, arising on different parts of the 
head of the penis, accompanied, at first, by itching, and gradu- 
ally changing into pain, we would recommend the use of the 
Brown Wash, and the Venereal Ointment applied to the af- 
fected parts, taking a table-spoonful of the Vegetable Syrup, 
four times a day, and keeping the bowels gently open. 



38 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

When the disease has run on for a length of time, so as that 
the absorbents have taken up the venereal poison, the gland- 
ular system will be affected — usually the inguinal glands, or 
the groin. These glands will become swelled and inflamed. 
Pain in the groin, and some degree of hardness. These are 
indications of bubo, and can be checked and much relieved 
by wearing a plaster of Stimulating Liniment over the region 
of the pain, renewed two or three times a day. Should a 
rupture or a scirrous affection be mistaken for a bubo, still 
the above course will give relief. 

In all cases of swelled testicles, or extreme glandular swell- 
ing in the region of the groin, a poultice made of boiled white 
beans, beat fine, with an equal portion of slippery elm bark, 
is an excellent remedy. 

In some extreme cases of syphilis, we have prepared a 
Liniment to be applied over the whole of the body, which is 
composed of concentrated agents, calculated to aid in cleans- 
ing the system from the disease. Sometimes it has been ad- 
vantageously applied on the sound surface of the body, when 
the ulcers have been treated with Venereal Ointment, poul- 
tices, etc. It has been fully demonstrated that this disease 
is not entirely confined to the dissolute. Instances are known 
where the venereal taint has been inherited from ancestors: 
others, where it has been caused by fortuitous circumstances. 
In fact, we hazard nothing in saying it may be communicated 
by inoculation, in the same manner as the small pox, and per- 
haps by inoculating for the small pox, with matter taken from 
the pustule of a man who is infected with venereal. 

ITCH OINTMENT. 

The variety of preparations which have been invented for 
this loathsome disease, and to be sold in almost every drug 
shop in the country, would seem to be sufficient; and espe- 
cially so, as many of those compounds have a deservedly high 
reputation. Nothing could have induced us to have brought 
this preparation before the public, but the fact of having ef- 
fectually cured a number of obstinate cases of six or seven 



OUR REMEDIES. 39 

years' standing, where every other prescription had entirely 
failed. We have learned the fact, that this preparation has 
been efficacious in a number of eruptive cases, which had 
been unyielding to the usual forms of treatment. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

Rub the Liniment upon all the parts affected, particularly 
round the wrists, under the arms, upon the elbows, inside and 
out, under the hams, and round the ankles. All the eruptions 
of the body, caused by the disease, should be rubbed with the 
Ointment. 

HEALTH RESTORATIVE, OR VEGETABLE SYRUP. 

We do not hesitate to aver, that this Syrup, so far as we 
are acquainted with its effects upon the human system, espe- 
cially when accompanied with the application of our Stimu- 
lating Liniment, far exceeds any other preparation that we 
have any knowledge of. If there be any chance for the re- 
covery of patients in chronic complaints, or if the disease be 
within the control of medicine, with proper agents accompany- 
ing it, this Syrup will prove effectual. It may, in some cases, 
be necessary to give it for a length of time, before its salutary 
effect will become manifest; though in all cases we have wit- 
nessed, there remained no doubt on the mind of its superior 
efficacy, after one or two days' use. 

The astonishing effect which is produced on canker in the 
throat and mouth, and in cases of women who nurse their 
children, which are sometimes incurable by any remedies 
heretofore discovered, (unless the child be weaned,) is alone 
sufficient to recommend its adoption. 

In cases of bleeding at the lungs, consumption, liver com- 
plaint, nervous affections, asthma, cutaneous eruptions, white 
swellings, scrofula, syphilis, diseases occasioned by the use of 
mercury, general debility, and most of the chronic complaints 
of females, we hesitate not to recommend this Syrup as inval- 
uable. 

In what manner it acts upon the system is of but little con- 



40 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

sequence to know, if we are enabled to testify of its good 
effects. It is pretty evident that it must change the secre- 
tions, expel the morbid matter by the skin, kidneys, bowels, 
or intestines, although it has but very little sensible effect 
upon any of those organs. The composition of this article 
is essentially botanical, and highly concentrated. Some of 
its ingredients have heretofore been used as a medicine only 
by the red men of the West. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

In ordinary cases— & dose for an adult is a table-spoonful, 
and for a child a tea-spoonful, three times a day. 



DIAPHORETIC DROPS 



For promoting perspiration in cases where that end is 
desired, which they will be found to produce in a short time. 



DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 



In cases of Fever, Fever and Jigue, Scarlet Fever, Bil- 
ious Cholic, Cholera Morbus, Rheumatism, Numb Palsy, 
Liver Complaint, and in all cases where the system has 
become morbid — (in which they operate as a powerful expec- 
torant and diaphoretic, and should never be omitted in con- 
junction with our Liniment for Fevers) — to be taken in half 
tea-spoonful doses, for adults; for children, half that quantity, 
diluted in hot water, well sweetened, once in twenty minutes, 
until a free perspiration takes place. When the stomach is 
very foul, they will sometimes cause vomiting. 

In cases of Colds — the Drops are used to advantage, when 
our other remedies are not at hand. 

The Drops may be taken as above, and applied externally 
about the neck and stomach; soak the feet in warm water, 
wipe dry, and when in bed place a warm brick to the same, 
and take freely of pennyroyal, or any sweating herb tea, 
which will, in many cases, arrest a cold without any other 
medicine. 



OUR REMEDIES. 41 



PECTORAL TINCTURE, 



A valuable expectorant, and highly useful, with other rem- 
edies, in removing diseases of the lungs. This Tincture is 
one of the most ready, safe, and efficacious emetics in the 
whole Materia Medica, and may be resorted to with great 
advantage where this remedy is indicated. It warms up and 
stimulates the stomach, and causes vomiting without the least 
danger of cramps during the operation. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

In Coughs and Colds — this preparation is administered 
in doses of from three to ten drops, three or four times a day, 
for adults, and for children in proportion. 

In cases of Bilious Affections — twenty drops taken, will 
generally produce gentle vomiting and cleanse the stomach. 
In all cases where it is important to promote expectoration, a 
resort to this remedy will produce the desired effect. The 
dose of twenty drops is competent to produce vomiting when 
the stomach is very foul, but in urgent cases when it becomes 
necessary to cause immediate vomiting, we sometimes give 
the Tincture in tea-spoonful doses, once in five minutes, dilu- 
ted in warm water, until the effect be produced. 

FEMALE DROPS. 

These Drops are intended to correct profuse, or restore 
obstructed, periodical discharges, peculiar to females, (a due 
regulation of which, is so essential to their health,) and are of 
the greatest importance in all uterine affections. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

Take half a tea-spoonful, three times a day, for a month ; 
then increase the quantity to a tea-spoonful each dose, and 
continue until the system is fully restored to regularity. 

These Drops, in connection with our Stimulating Liniment, 
and our Health Restorative or Vegetable Syrup, taken accord- 
6 



42 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

ing to the directions accompanying each, is competent to re- 
store the most deranged state of the system — which has been 
accomplished in a great number of cases. 

When the patient is very Nervous — it is advisable to use 
our Liniment for Nervous affections, instead of Stimulating 
Liniment — but otherwise, the latter is preferable. 

In cases of Fluor Jllbus and Prolapsus Uteri — and in 
fact all uterine affections, these Drops have been administered 
to good advantage — we have the evidence of cases being re- 
lieved in a few days by these Drops, and our other remedies. 

ALTERATIVE DEOPS. 

The object intended to be effected by these Drops is, to 
restore the circulating fluids to a pure state. They are taken 
in small doses — and it is said, by some who have used them, 
that the scrofula has been cured by these drops alone. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

These Drops are taken internally, in half tea-spoonful 
doses, two or three times a day — children from four to six 
drops — and continued for a considerable length of time. 

In many chronic complaints, such as liver complaint, scro- 
fula, white swellings, inflammatory rheumatism, gout, and in 
cases of eruptions on the surface of the body, they act power- 
fully in cleansing the blood and circulating fluids; and though 
their beneficial effects are not so suddenly manifested as are 
many of our preparations, they are no less certain of pro-. 
during the most salutary effects, when taken in conjunction 
with the use of our external remedies. 

ESSENCE OF LIFE. 

This remedy was prepared several years ago, but we were 
determined not to offer it for sale, until its virtues were fully 
tested. The large number of chronic complaints which have 
recently come under our treatment, have fully established its 
character, and we now cheerfully recommend it in cases of 



OUK REMEDIES. 48 

dyspepsia, nervous affections, faintness and distress at the 
stomach, asthma, palpitation of the heart, bilious and wind 
cholic, etc. 

Its powers to relieve in the above cases are very ready ; 
and though we do not recommend it to cure these complaints 
without the aid of other medicine, we can with confidence 
say, that it is a m6st grateful and ready palliative, affording 
almost instantaneous relief, in many cases, from extreme suf- 
fering. 

DIRECTIQNS'FOR USE. 

In ordinary cases — it is taken in doses of from six to ten 
drops, in warm water, or on sugar, once in ten minutes, until 
relief be afforded. 

In cases of Bilious and Wind Cholic, or extreme pains 
in the chest — take a tea-spoonful once in fifteen minutes, 
diluted in water. 

Keep the vial well corked. 

NEEVE SANATIVE. 

A powerful remedy for tic douloureux, fits of every kind, 
nervous affections, and delirium. 

The agents composing this invaluable preparation, have 
been concentrated to a far greater extent than any of our 
remedies heretofore prepared ; and it is only to be taken in 
very small doses. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 

For Nervous Affections— one drop, diluted in warm water, 
may be taken three or four times a day. 

For Tic Douloureux — apply externally, to the parts af- 
fected, three or four drops, and then apply our Nerve Lini- 
ment freely. Take also half a tea-spoonful of the Essence of 
Life. 

For Spasmodic Fits — take two drops, diluted in water, 
once in twenty-five or thirty minutes, which will at once 
reduce the spasms; after which, take one drop, two or three 



44 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

times a day, as a preventive. In extreme cases, if this dose 
be not sufficient to immediately arrest the fits, the dose may 
be doubled, or even thrice the quantity given, and repeated 
until relief be gained. 

In extreme cases of Pleurisy — from two to six drops may 
be taken once in twenty minutes, and a few drops may be 
applied to the side, with the Nerve Liniment. In all cases 
we recommend a full application of our Nerve Liniment. 
These Drops, accompanied with the Nerve Liniment, have 
frequently arrested fits in a very few minutes. 

In cases of long standing Delirium — a full application 
of the Nerve Liniment over the whole body, including the 
head, (after shaving off the hair,) two or three times a day, 
is absolutely necessary. Take the Essence of Life, in half 
tea-spoonful doses, three or four times a day; at the same time 
take two drops of the Nerve Sanative two or three times a 
day. 

Some might be led to suppose that the Sanative contained 
deleterious drugs, from the small doses recommended. To 
relieve all such, we pledge ourselves that this is not the case. 

BROWN WASH. 

This preparation is efficacious in cases of gonorrhea and 
syphilis, and was intended expressly for those diseases, but 
may be used to good advantage in indurated ulcers, etc. 

The Wash is also exhibited internally, in doses of a tea- 
spoonful two or three times a day. 

LOTION FOR DYSPEPSIA. 

This remedy has been advantageously applied to the head 
and glandular parts of the face and neck, in cases of long 
standing dyspepsia, and especially where the complaint has 
caused a depression of spirits in the patient. 

It is applied over the head generally, and may be used to 
advantage in conjunction with the Nerve Sanative, in many 
nervous affections. 



OUR REMEDIES. 45 



CANCER PREPARATIONS. 



Our preparations for cancers are composed of a Liniment, 
Syrup, Plaster, Poultices, etc., and are calculated to remove 
pain in the region of the cancer in a very short time, but as 
it is the business of thousands to pretend to cure cancers, we 
have avoided giving publicity to our preparations, as with- 
out the most scrupulous attention to the prescriptions, there 
is but little chance for a cure; and we are well aware of the 
difficulty which almost always attends these cases of inducing 
the patient to persevere in a course long enough to effect a 
fair trial. 

The foregoing general directions will enable the practi- 
tioner to apply and exhibit our remedies with safety and 
benefit to the patient, and though some variations may be ne- 
cessary to most cases as they occur, the fact that there is no 
one of these preparations which contains any medicine that is 
poisonous or deleterious to the human system, and that there 
can be no danger arising from applying as much of our exter- 
nal preparations as the absorbing pores will receive, renders 
them perfectly safe, even if they are administered by unskil- 
ful hands. 



CHAP. II 



FEVER 



Fever; a disease characterized by an increase of heat, an 
accelerated pulse, a foul tongue, and an impaired state of sev- 
eral functions of the body. The varieties are numerous. — 
The principle divisions are into continued and intermittent 
fevers. Continued fevers have no intermission, but exacerba- 
tion comes on usually twice in one day. 

The genera of continued fever are, 1st, Synocha, or inflam- 
matory fever, known by increased heat; pulse frequently 
strong and hard; urine highly colored; senses not much im- 
paired: 2d, Typhus, or putrid-tending fever, which is conta- 
gious, and is characterized by moderate Heat; quick, weak 
and small pulse; senses much impaired, and great prostration 
of strength: 3d, Synochus, or mixed fever. Intermittent 
fevers are known by cold, hot and sweating stages in succes- 
sion, attending each paroxysm, and followed by an intermis- 
sion or remission. There are three genera of intermitting 
fevers, and several varieties: 1st, Quolidiana; a quotidian 
ague. The paroxysms return in the morning, at an interval 
of about twenty -four hours. 2d, Tertiana; a tertian ague. 
The paroxysms commonly come on at mid-day, at an inter- 
val of about forty-eight hours. 3d, Quart ana; a quartan 
ague. The paroxysms come on in the afternoon, with an 
interval of about seventy-two hours. The tertian ague is 
most apt to prevail in the spring, and the quartan in autumn. 
When these fevers arise in the spring, they are called vernal; 
and when in the autumn, they are known by the name of 
autumnal. Intermittents often prove obstinate and are of 
long duration in warm climates; and they not unfrequently 
resist every mode of cure, so as to become very distressing to 



48 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT 

the patient, and, by the extreme debility which they thereby 
induce, after giving rise to other chronic complaints. It 
seems to be pretty generally acknowledged, that marsh mias- 
mata, or the effluvia arising from stagnated water, or marsh 
ground, when acted upon by heat, are the most frequent exci- 
ting causes of this fever. A watery, poor diet, great fatigue, 
long watching, grief, much anxiety, exposure to cold, lying 
in damp rooms or beds, wearing damp linen, the suppression 
of some long accustomed evacuation, or the recession of erup- 
tions, have also been ranked among the exciting causes of in- 
termittents: but it is more reasonable to suppose that these 
circumstances act only by inducing that state of the body 
which predisposes to these complaints. One peculiarity of 
this fever is its great susceptibility of renewal from very 
slight causes, as from the prevalence of an easterly wind, even 
without the repetition of the original exciting cause.. In this 
circumstance, intermittents differ from most other fevers, as 
it is well known that, after a continued fever has once oc- 
curred, and been removed, the person so affected is by no 
means so liable to a fresh attack of the disorder, as one in 
whom it had never taken place. We have not yet attained a 
certain knowledge of the proximate cause of an intermittent 
fever, but a deranged state of the stomach, and primas vise is 
that which is most generally alledged. 

Each paroxysm of an intermittent fever is divided into 
three different stages, which are called the cold, the hot, and 
the sweating stages, or Jits. The cold stage commences with 
languor, a sense of debility and sluggishness in motion, fre- 
quent yawning and stretching, and an aversion to food. The 
face and extremities become pale, the features shrunk, the 
bulk of every external part is diminished, and the skin over 
the whole body appears constricted, as if cold had been ap- 
plied to it. At length the patient feels very cold, and uni- 
versal rigors come on, with pains in the head, back, loins and 
joints, nausea and vomiting of bilious matter; the respiration 
is small, frequent and anxious; the urine is almost colorless; 
sensibility is greatly impaired; the thoughts are somewhat 



FEVER. 49 

confused; and the pulse is small, frequent, and often irregular. 
In a few instances, drowsiness and stupor have prevailed in 
so high a degree as to resemble coma or apoplexy; but this 
is by no means usual. The symptoms abating after a short 
time, the second stage commences with an increase of heat 
over the whole body, redness of the face, dryness of the skin, 
thirst, pain in the head, throbbing in the temples, anxiety and 
restlessness; the respiration is fuller and more free, but still 
frequent; the tongue is furred, and the pulse has become reg- 
ular, hard and full. If the attack has been very severe, then 
perhaps delirium will arise. When these symptoms have 
continued for some time, a moisture breaks out on the fore- 
head, and by degrees becomes a sweat, and this at length ex- 
tends over the whole body. As this sweat continues to flow, 
the heat of the body abates, the thirst ceases, and most of the 
functions are restored to their ordinary state. This consti- 
tutes the third stage. 

When intermittents continue for any length of time, they 
are apt to induce other complaints, such as a loss of appetite, 
flatulency, scirrhus of the liver, dropsical swellings, and 
general debility, which now and then prove fatal in the end, 
particularly in warm climates; and, in some cases, they de- 
generate into continued fevers. Relapses are very common 
to this fever, at the distance of five or six months, or even a 
year. 

Autumnal intermittents are more difficult to remove than 
vernal ones, and quartans more so than the other types. It is 
always desirable to suspend a paroxysm if possible, not only 
to prevent mischief, but also that there may be more time for 
the use of the most effectual remedies. When, therefore, a 
fit is commencing, or shortly expected, we may try to obviate 
it by some of those means which excite movements of an 
opposite description in the system: determining the blood 
powerfully to the surface of the body, by various stimulating- 
remedies, will often succeed. Should the paroxysm have 
already come on, and the cold stage be very severe, the warm 
bath, and cordial diaphoretics, in repeated moderate doses, 
7 



50 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

may assist in bringing warmth to the surface. In the inter- 
mission, in conjunction with a generous diet, moderate exer- 
cise, and other means calculated to improve the vigor of the 
system, tonics are the remedies especially relied upon. 

Febris synocha; inflammatory fever — a species of contin- 
ued fever, characterized by increased heat; pulse frequent, 
strong, hard ; urine highly colored; senses not impaired. This 
fever is so named from its being attended with symptoms de- 
noting general inflammation in the system, by which we shall 
always be able readily to distinguish it from the nervous or 
putrid. It makes its attack at all seasons of the year, but is 
most prevalent in the spring; and it seizes persons of all ages 
and habits, but more particularly those in the vigor of life, with 
strong elastic fibres, and of a plethoric constitution. It is a 
species of fever almost peculiar to cold and temperate climates, 
being rarely, if ever, met with in very warm ones, except 
among foreigners lately arrived, and even then, the inflamma- 
tory stage is of very short duration, as it very soon assumes 
either the nervous or putrid type. The exciting causes are 
sudden transitions from heat to cold, swallowing cold liquors 
when the body is much heated by exercise, a too free use of 
vinous and spirituous liquors, great intemperance, violent pas- 
sions of the mind, the sudden suppression of habitual evacua- 
tions, and the sudden repulsion of eruptions. It may be 
doubted if this fever ever originated from personal infection; 
but it is possible for it to appear as an epidemic among such 
as are of a robust habit, from a peculiar state of the atmos- 
phere. It comes on with a sense of lassitude and inactivity, 
succeeded by vertigo, rigors and pains over the whole body, 
but more particularly in the head and back; which symptoms 
are shortly followed by redness of the face and eyes, great 
restlessness, intense heat, and unquenchable thirst, oppression 
of the breathing, and nausea. The skin is dry and parched; 
the tongue is of a scarlet color at the sides, and furred with 
white in the center; the urine is red and scanty; the stomach 
is costive; and there is a quickness, with a fullness and hard- 
ness in the pulse, not much affected by any pressure made on 



FEVER. 51 

the artery. If the febrile symptoms run very high, and pro- 
per means are not used at an early period, stupor and delirium 
come on, the imagination becomes much disturbed and hur- 
ried, and the patient raves violently. The disease usually 
goes through its course in about fourteen days, and terminates 
in a crisis, either by diaphoresis, diarrhea, hemorrhage from 
the nose, or the deposit of a copious sediment in the urine; 
which crisis is usually preceded by some variation in the 
pulse. As the disease advances, we must attempt to promote 
the other discharges, particularly that by the skin. Impres- 
sions on the senses, particularly the sight and hearing, 
bodily and mental exertion, etc. must be guarded against as 
much as possible. When the head is much affected, besides 
the general treatment, have the head shaved, and perhaps 
stimulate the lower extremities. In like manner, any other 
organ, being particularly pressed upon, may require additional 
means to be used for its relief, which will be different in 
different cases. 

Typhus; a species of continued fever — characterized by 
great debility, a tendency in the fluids to putrefaction, and the 
ordinary symptoms of fever. It is to be readily distinguished 
from the inflammatory, by the smallness of the pulse, and the 
sudden and great debility which ensues on its first attack, and 
in its more advanced stage, by the petechia, or purple spots, 
which come out on various parts of the body, and the fetid 
stools which are discharged; and it maybe distinguished from 
the nervous fever, hy the great violence of all its symptoms, 
on its first coming on. 

The most general cause that gives rise to this disease, is 
contagion, applied either immediately from the body of a per- 
son laboring under it, or conveyed in clothes, merchandise, 
etc.: but it maybe occasioned by the effluvia arising from 
either animal or vegetable substances, in a decayed or putrid 
state; and hence it is, that, in low and marshy countries, it is 
apt to be prevalent, when intense and sultry heat quickly 
succeeds any great inundation. A want of proper cleanliness, 
and confined air, are likewise causes of this fever; hence it 



52 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

prevails in hospitals, jails, camps, and on board of ships, espe- 
cially when such places are much crowded, and the strictest 
attention is not paid to a free ventilation and due cleanliness. 
A close state of the atmosphere, with damp weather, is like- 
wise apt to give rise to putrid fever. 

Those of lax fibres, and who have been weakened by any 
previous debilitating cause, such as poor diet, long fasting, 
hard labor, continued want of sleep, etc., are most liable to it. 
On the first coming on of the disease, the person is seized 
with languor, dejection of spirits, amazing depression, and 
loss of muscular strength, universal weariness and soreness, 
pain in the head, back and extremities, and rigors; the eye 
appears full, heavy, yellowish, and often a little inflamed; 
the temporal arteries throb violently; the tongue is dry and 
parched; respiration is commonly laborious, and interrupted 
with deep sighing; the breath is hot and offensive, the urine 
is crude and pale, the body is costive, and the pulse is unusu- 
ally quick, small and hard, and now and then fluttering and 
unequal. Sometimes a great heat, load, and pain are felt at 
the pit of the stomach, and a vomiting of bilious matter en- 
sues. As the disease advances, the pulse increases in fre- 
quency, (beating often from one hundred to one hundred and 
thirty in a minute.) There is a vast debility, a great heat and 
dryness in the skin, oppression at the breast, with anxiety, 
sighing, and moaning; the thirst is greatly increased; the 
tongue, mouth, lips, and teeth are covered with a brown or 
black tenacious fur; the speech is inarticulate and scarcely 
intelligible; the patient mutters much, and delirium ensues. 
The fever continuing to increase in violence still more, symp- 
toms of putrefaction show themselves; the breath becomes 
highly offensive; the urine deposits a black and fetid sediment; 
the stools are dark, offensive, and pass off insensibly; hemorr- 
hages issue from the gums, nostrils, mouth, and other parts 
of the body; livid spots, or petechia, appear on its surface; 
the pulse intermits and sinks; the extremities grow cold; 
hiccoughs ensue, and death at last closes the scene. 

When this fever does not terminate fatally, it generally, 



FEVER. 53 

in cold climates, begins to diminish about the commencement 
of the third week, and goes off gradually toward the end of 
the fourth, without any very evident crisis; but in warm 
climates, it seldom continues above a week or ten days, if so 
long. 

Our opinion as to the event, is to be formed by the degree 
of violence in the symptoms, particularly after petechia ap- 
pear, although, in some instances, recoveries have been effect- 
ed under the most unpromising appearances. An abatement 
of febrile heat and thirst, a gentle moisture diffused equally 
over the whole surface of the body, loose stools, turbid urine, 
rising of the pulse, and the absence of delirium and stupor, 
may be regarded in a favorable light. On the contrary, pete- 
chia, with dark, offensive, involuntary discharges by urine 
and stool, fetid sweats, hemorrhages, and hiccoughs, denote 
the almost certain dissolution of the patient. The appearances 
usually perceived on dissection, are inflammations of the brain 
and viscera, but more particularly of the stomach and intestines, 
which are now and then found in a gangrenous state. In the 
muscular fibres there seems likewise a strong tendency to 
gangrene. 

In the very early periods of typhus fever, it is often possi- 
ble, by active treatment, to cut short the disease at once; as 
the disease proceeds, we must keep up the functions, and at- 
tempt to restore that of the skin, and the other secretions, as 
the best means of moderating the violence of vascular action. 
It may be sometimes advisable to employ the tepid bath, to 
promote the operation of the diaphoretic medicines. If, under 
the use of the measures already detailed, calculated to lessen 
the violence of the vascular action, the vital powers should 
appear materially falling off, recourse must then be had to a 
more nutritious diet, with a moderate quantity of wine, and 
cordial or tonic medicines. There is generally an aversion to 
animal food, whence the mucilaginous vegetable substances, 
as arrow-root, etc., rendered palatable by spice, or a little 
wine, or sometimes mixed with a little milk, may be directed 
as nourishing and easy of digestion. If, however, there be 



54 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

no marked septic tendency, and the patient is cloyed with 
these articles, the lighter animal preparations, as calves' foot 
jelly, veal broth, etc., may be allowed. 

The extent to which wine may be carried, must depend on 
the urgency of the case, and the previous habits of the indi- 
vidual; but it will commonly not be necessary to exceed half a 
pint, or a pint at most, in the twenty-four hours; and it should 
be given in divided portions, properly diluted, made perhaps, 
into negus, whey, etc., according to the liking of the patient. 
The preference should always be given to that which is of the 
soundest quality, if agreeable; but where wine cannot be af- 
forded, good malt liquor, or mustard whey, may be substituted. 
Some stimulant medicines, as aromatics, serpentaria, etc., 
may often be used with advantage, to assist in keeping up the 
circulation; also those of atonic quality, as columba, cusparia, 
etc., occasionally in their lighter forms, but more especially 
the acid. These are, in several respects, useful, by promot- 
ing the secretions of the primse viae, etc. — they quench the 
thirst, remove irritation, and manifestly cool the body; and 
in the worst forms of typhus, where the putrescent tendency 
appears, they are particularly valuable, from their antiseptic 
power; they are also decidedly tonic, and, indeed, those from 
the mineral kingdom powerfully so. These may be given 
freely as medicine; the carbonic acid, also, in the form of brisk 
fermenting liquors; and the native vegetable acids, as they 
exist in ripe fruits, being generally very grateful, may consti- 
tute a principal part of the diet. In the mean time, to obviate 
the septic tendency, great attention should be paid to cleanli- 
ness and ventilation, and keeping the bowels regular by mild 
aperients or clysters, of an emollient or antiseptic nature; 
and where aphtha appear, acidulated gargles should be di- 
rected. If the disease inclines more to the nervous form, 
with much mental anxiety, tremors, and other irregular affec- 
tions of the muscles, or organs of sense, the antispasmodic 
medicines may be employed with more advantage, to call a 
greater portion of nervous energy to the lower extremities by 
the pediluvium, or other mode of applying warmth, or occa- 



FEVEK. 55 

sionally by friction and stimulating remedies. But if there 
should be much increased vascular action in the brain, more 
active means will be required, and it will be always right to 
have the head shaved. In like manner, other important parts 
may occasionally require local means of relief. Urgent vo- 
miting may, perhaps, be checked by the effervescing mixture; 
a troublesome diarrhea, by sudorifics, and warm applications 
to the bowels; profuse perspiration, by the infusion of a dia- 
phoretic regimen. 

Nervous Fever; a variety of the typhus mitior of Cullen, 
but by many considered as a distinct disease. It mostly be- 
gins with loss of appetite, increased heat and vertigo; to which 
succeeds nausea, vomiting, great languor, and pain in the head, 
which is variously described by some, like cold water pouring 
over the top — by others, as a sense of weight. The pulse, 
before little increased, now becomes quick, febrile, and tremu- 
lous; the tongue is covered with a white crust, and there is 
great anxiety about the praecordia. Towards the seventh or 
eighth day, the vertigo is increased, and tinnitus aurium, 
cophosis, delirium, and a dry and tremulous tongue take 
place. The disease mostly terminates about the fourteenth 
day. 

Dengue Fever. This name has been given to a disease 
which appeared in the year 1828, in the West Indies, and in the 
southern States of North America: it has also been called the 
dingee, the danga, the dandy, the bouquet, and the bucket 
fever. This disease was remarkable for the suddenness of its 
attacks, the great numbers affected, the severity of the symp- 
toms, and the rareness of death from it. It would seem from 
the reports of those who have seen most of this disease, and 
whose judgment may be relied on, that the dengue has some 
affinities with the yellow fever. The symptoms as noticed in 
Havanna were first, great languor, chilliness and pain in the 
tendons of the smaller joints; following these, were burning 
heat and redness of the skin, pains in the muscles of the limbs, 
or pain in the forehead, and a loathing or vomiting of what- 
ever was taken into the stomach. The fever continued for 



56 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

one, two, or three days, and then usually terminated with 
abundant sweating, which freed the patient, likewise, from his 
pains. But many, after leaving their beds, suffered by a re- 
newal of their pains, which, in some, have become chronic; 
others have also had a renewed attack of the fever. " The 
most usual mode of attack, however," says Dr. Stedman, of 
Santa Cruz, "which appears not a little singular, was the fol- 
lowing: A person in perfect health would suddenly feel a 
stiffness, amounting almost to pain, in one of his fingers, and 
most frequently in his little finger. The stiffness increased, 
and was accompanied with an intense degree of pain, which 
spread rapidly over the whole hand, and up the arm to the 
shoulder. The fingers in both hands, in a few hours, became 
swelled, stiff and painful, preventing all attempts at bending 
the joints." To this succeeded restlessness, depression of 
spirits, nausea, vomiting, shivering, great heat, intense head- 
ache, most acute pain in every joint. The most distressing 
symptoms were intense pain in the eye-balls and back, the 
eyes seeming to the patient enlarged, filling the sockets, and 
as if ready to burst. Quite a remarkable symptom was the 
feeling of intense cold, while at the same time the skin was 
intensely hot. These symptoms continued from twenty-four 
to thirty-six hours. The patient now remained languid, irri- 
table and restless for about three days, when it was not un- 
common for a new attack to come on, accompanied by an 
efflorescence, beginning at the palms of the hands, and ex- 
tending thence over the wbole body. Secondary symptoms* 
consisting principally of pain and stiffness in the limbs and 
body followed, which, in many cases, continued for weeks* 
and made the patient most uncomfortable. Sometimes there 
was distressing itching; and in some cases there was swelling 
of the prsepuce and scrotum, and in others, a discharge from 
the urethra, resembling gonorrhea. Dr. Steidman considers- 
the disease contagious. 
. Stimulating embrocations, mustard poultices, and the like, 
were employed in the treatment of this disease; the latter 
were applied to the temples, to relieve the pain in the eye- 



FEVER. 57 



balls, to the back, the back of the neck, etc., as indicated, 
and always with advantage. 



TREATMENT. 



In the various forms of fever enumerated in the preceding 
article, we have noticed that there is a very great similarity 
of treatment adopted by the most eminent physicians. The 
variations are so trifling, that he who could successfully treat 
one form by the method pointed out, would not be at a loss 
to adapt the means in his possession, to another. In our ex- 
perience in fevers, we have noticed the same fact; we have 
never found any difficulty in overcoming all forms of fever, 
by an application of our remedies for fever; and we never 
have been at a loss, to so modify them as to meet the variety 
of cases which come within our notice. 

Note. — It would be irrelevant to the development of a cor- 
rect idea, to go into a minute detail of the nosology of that 
class of diseases, called by Cullen, Pyrixia. Its classification 
into orders, and those into genera, and those again, into spe- 
cies, are but an accumulation of names for many slight varia- 
tions of type, arising, probably, from peculiar constitutional 
causes. Whatever be their form, their nature is the same. 

The causes and progress of fever have hitherto remained 
inexplicable. No man has had a power of discernment suffi- 
cient to penetrate the mystic phenomena. When the febrile 
and other symptoms have disappeared, or during the inter- 
mission, what becomes of the disease? why, at its appointed 
hour, does it invariably occur? These questions have never 
been answered. Waving the assumption of any hypothesis 
on these controverted points, we will proceed to the treatment 
we have uniformly found successful, for the removal of these 
distressing complaints. Were we to attempt a disquisition 
of their modus operandi, here again we should approach a 
point of extensive controversy. One author strenuously ad- 
vocates lymphatic absorption, another nervous absorption, and 
another the nervous sympathy, and the like. For obvious 
8 



58 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

reasons, we leave every thing doctrinal for the physiologist 
to speculate upon. 

In the adaptation of our remedies for fevers, we embrace 
the generally received opinion; and it is our conviction, re- 
sulting from practice, that fevers differ only in the degree and 
duration of their violence, and, consequently, the same course 
of treatment will apply, to a certain extent, in every form of 
the malady. 

We acknowledge that it requires more credulity than peo- 
ple are generally habituated to exercise, to believe that the 
worst forms of fever can be cured, without the exhibition of 
either emetics, cathartics, or injections. 

Some gentlemen of professed science, unacquainted with 
our remedies, argue that such results are opposed to the prin- 
ciples of science. But the vast number of cases which have 
yielded to this mode of treatment, have established the fact 
in the minds of all who have made a fair trial — we say all, 
for we have never known or heard of a single failure, where 
our remedies have been properly used according to directions, 
and we know of many cases which have been cured, after 
having been pronounced incurable by the ablest physicians in 
the United States. 

1st. Apply our Fever Liniment freely to the body and to 
the soles of the feet, with much friction; bind plasters of the 
same on the soles the feet, and place warm bricks to the feet 
and sides. 

2d. Take a tea-spoonful of the Diaphoretic Drops, diluted 
in warm water sweetened, once in twenty minutes, until a 
profuse perspiration takes place. This course will soon re- 
duce the febrile symptoms, and relieve the patient from pain, 
In some cases, although the external heat may appear to be 
increased for a short time^ and produce an impression that the 
fever is increased, yet upon examining the pulse, it will be 
found to indicate the contrary. 

3d. The same Liniment may be applied to the stomach on 
a plaster, which will supersede the necessity of administering 
an emetic. 



FEVER. 59 

4th. IF the application of the Liniment do not give full 
relief, it may be repeated in four hours, or oftener, if neces- 
sary. In extreme cases of congestive or typhus fever, the 
saline bath may be used to advantage, which consists of warm 
water, in which three quarts of salt are added to twelve pails- 
ful of water; in this the patient may be bathed for the space 
of fifteen minutes; then wipe dry, rubbing the body well 
with cloths, and applying the Liniment freely. 

5th. After the symptoms of disease are removed, the pa- 
tient may be washed off with soap suds, then with salt and 
water, and wiped dry; after which, apply as before, the Stimu- 
lating or Fever Liniment, giving the preference to the former 
if at hand, being more tonic and less diaphoretic in its effects. 

Many persons, after undergoing a copious perspiration by 
means of the Fever Liniment, upon its subsiding, have appre- 
hensions of taking cold — to prevent which, it is important 
for them to make a free application to the body, of the Stim- 
ulating Liniment, as that previously applied has become ab- 
sorbed into the system. This course renders the patient less 
liable to the effects of the atmosphere, and is indispensably 
necessary to invigorate by its tonic properties, and overcome 
the debilitating and febrile symptoms. This course should 
be repeated once or twice a day for a while, even if no par- 
oxysm of fever should occur, after the attack is arrested. In 
cases of fever and ague, where it can be done, let the Fever 
Liniment be applied, accompanied by our Diaphoretic Drops, 
in the manner first stated, about half an hour previous to the 
time of the expected chill, until a profuse perspiration is pro- 
duced; or if the chill arrive before the application can be 
made, then, during the paroxysm of the chill or succeeding 
fever, apply the Fever Liniment in the same manner, which 
will very generally arrest the disease, and entirely prevent 
a return of chill and fever; and, by the patient applying the 
Liniment once or twice a day, for a few days, he will be en- 
tirely restored to health and strength. 

In severe cases of pleurisy, apply the Fever or Stimulating 
Liniment over the region of pain, with a warm brick, or a 



60 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

bag of hops or meal, which will directly arrest the extreme 
suffering, and, if followed up in a similar manner to the fore- 
going, according to the violence of the attack, and relief ex- 
perienced, will overcome the disease, and entirely supersede 
any resort to the lancet, or to blistering. 

Our remedies for fever are the most valuable of any of our 
preparations, and when they become fully known, will be so 
estimated by the various orders of physicians, as well as by 
the general people. 

In many severe cases of fever, it is recommended to soak 
the feet, and wash the whole surface of the body in warm 
water, before the first application of the Liniment. 



YELLOW FEVER. 



This fever is one of a specific character, and generally con- 
fined to situations in which much moisture is joined to great 
heat. It prevails in Asia, the West Indies, South America, 
in the southern, and sometimes in the northern parts of 
the United States. It is endemial in many portions of the 
globe, especially in the tropical climates, and sometimes it is 
epidemic in northern latitudes, as at Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
and New- York. It is most common in sea-ports and near 
large bodies of water, but occasionally it is found in inland 
situations. It is said to differ materially from the endemial 
remittant of tropical countries, and is of course not merely an 
exaggerated form of the bilious remittent of such places. It 
differs from the endemial remittent of the West Indies, in only 
attacking strangers to such climates. The natives and such as 
have lived long in similar situations, are altogether exempt 
from its attack; and, should the stranger survive the dangers 
of an attack, he remains generally safe for the future, though 
not exempt from the endemial remittent of the place. Should 
the stranger escape for a year or two, he becomes acclimated, 
and is no longer liable to be attacked by the scourge. 



YELLOW FEVER. 61 

The yellow fever has heretofore been looked upon as con- 
tagious; but this notion is now generally abandoned by those 
best qualified to judge of the fact. Its rapid spread may be 
accounted for, on the principles which make it an epidemic. 
The disease differs essentially from all others in its mode of 
attack, and in the violence of its symptoms. In almost every 
other febrile affection, as a general rule, the risk is in propor- 
tion to the violence of the symptom ; but the masked or insid- 
ious form of the yellow fever is most commonly the least 
manageable, and consequently the most dangerous. Hence 
the "walking cases" are almost sure to prove fatal. It is 
said there are three modes of attack in yellow fever; and the 
phenomena of each may vary, as the remote cause may have 
been more or less active or concentrated. They may also 
be influenced by individual habits or constitution, or by the 
force of occasional or exciting causes; and hence the disease 
is sometimes found to run its course very rapidly; that is, in 
from two to nve days, some of the cases terminating in black 
vomit. In this form of the disorder the symptoms are gen- 
erally less terrible and less distinctly marked, though more 
certainly and speedily fatal; or it may run on to the fifth or 
seventh day; and though the sufferings are of a more acute 
kind, the danger is less, as more time is given for the applica- 
tion of remedies; or it may present, like regularly-formed 
remittents, exacerbations, and remissions. If it assume this 
form, it may run on to the ninth or eleventh day. The first 
form observes no very regular time of attack, the evening is 
however the most common. The second generally takes 
place in the afternoon, and the third usually in the morning. 
The mode of attack is generally marked by the same train of 
symptoms, differing more in force than in character, if we 
except the first, which often has the peculiarity of betraying 
itself by scarcely any outward signs, except weakness, slight 
headache or nausea. This insidious character lulls the patient 
and his friends into fatal security. The patient has been 
known to walk about until within a few minutes of dissolu- 
tion. The unmasked or violent attack of the yellow fever is, 



62 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT 

therefore, less to be dreaded, than the seemingly mild form, 
as the derangement of the system is more palpable, though it 
is always highly dangerous. This disease differs in its attack 
from almost every other form of fever, as it is seldom ushered 
in by a well-defined chill,, though the sensation of cold will 
sometimes remain a long time before reaction will take place. 
Much languor is always experienced, with intense headache, 
distress about the precordia, and the eyes are of a peculiarly 
red color. The heat of the skin is seldom great in the be- 
ginning, but it soon increases in intensity. The pulse is 
rarely open and strong; indeed, it appears to the careful ob- 
server, rather more feeble than usual, and is thereby some- 
times betrayed into a dangerous security. The face assumes 
a peculiar flush, which is different from the redness of ordin- 
ary fever. This flushing gives a very marked character to 
the countenance, and can never be mistaken, by an eye ex- 
perienced in this disease, for symptoms of common fever; on 
the contrary, it always denotes a high degree of yellow fever. 
The tongue is usually moist and clammy; but rarely dry, 
rough or red, at the commencement, though these conditions 
of this organ are sure to follow in a short time. The skin is 
for the most part dry and harsh, though it occasionally is 
found wet with hot perspiration. This sweat is sometimes 
early in its appearance, and, at times, extremely profuse, but 
it neither abates the action of the heart and arteries, nor mit- 
igates the local sufferings — as headache, pain in the limbs, or 
oppression in the lungs. It therefore betrays the malignancy 
of the disease. There is seldom an abatement at any period 
of the day which would amount to a remission, though there 
is frequently an exacerbation that is very alarming from its 
intensity; and this may happen twice or even thrice in the 
twenty-four hours. Where this happens, the disease proceeds 
with hasty strides to its fatal termination; for should not rem- 
edies at this time very soon after their application abate the 
severity of the symptoms, more fatal symptoms quickly su- 
pervene; the eye becomes more red; lividity is added to the 
deep toned color of the cheek; the tenderness is much in- 



YELLOW FEVER. 63 

creased by pressure over the region of the stomach; nausea 
and vomiting commence or intervene; the patient tosses him- 
self into every position; delirium ensues; the urine becomes 
intense in color, and small in quantity; the extremities lose 
their heat; the gums become swollen and livid, the tongue 
red or brown, and dry; thirst insatiable, and the drinks are 
ejected perhaps as fast as swallowed. After a continuance of 
these symptoms for a few hours, the system seems to make 
a compromise with the disease, and passively yields to its 
power. There is no diminution of danger at this moment, 
though the system seems less morbidly excited; for if the 
suffering be less, danger is increased. Now the stomach 
gives way; the most tormenting nausea and thirst, with al- 
most incessant vomiting, take place. The fluids discharged 
are, for the most part, nothing but the drinks the patient has 
swallowed; for these, even in the beginning, are seldom 
tinged with bile. But the threatening change soon follows — 
the fluids become thicker, and somewhat viscous, and are now 
found to have mixed with them, flaky substances of a dark 
color. These flaky substances, there is reason to believe, are 
portions of the viscous coat of the stomach, detached, and 
made to mix with the ejected fluids by the effort of vomit- 
ing. The urine at this time is usually very scanty, or may 
be suppressed; the bowels are tardy, or yield a blackish look- 
ing substance, of considerable tenacity, and much resembling 
tar. The whole surface of the body with the exception, per- 
haps, of the abdomen, is colder than natural; sometimes dry, 
sometimes moist; the hands and feet are deathly cold, and 
mottled with stagnating blood; the pulse is feeble, fluttering, 
or extinct. Sleep forsakes the patient, or he doses only to 
suffer more; his respiration is hurried, or preternaturally 
slow. Sometimes the patient remains in the full possession 
of reason, until the last moment of life. Some die tranquilly, 
declaring that nothing ailed them; while others die in great 
agony. This happens generally when delirium is present, 
and when the brain, from sympathy, seems to sustain the great 
force of attack. The patient, may become more tranquil, 



64 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

from an evident mitigation of all the severer symptoms, and 
this short-lived trance, gives rise, in the inexperienced, to 
hopes that are never to be realized; for now the yellowness 
of the skin begins to show itself, and becomes the harbinger 
of the dreaded u black vomit" This matter is thrown from 
the stomach, sometimes in incredible quantities, and in vari- 
ous shades of color. It is ejected with very little effort, and 
the patient, for the most part, denies the existence of pain, 
Black vomit does not always precede death. But when this 
is the case, its place is supplied by the eructation of prodigious 
quantities of gas, rapidly and constantly secreted by the 
stomach. The gums and other portions of the body, at this 
time yield considerable quantities of blood, which renders 
the aspect of the patient truly hideous. The teeth become 
incrusted; the tongue grows black and dry; the pulse is slow 
and feeble, or at the wrist perhaps imperceptible; the skin 
and extremities are cold; coma or low muttering delirium 
takes place; sometimes there are convulsions; finally death 
ensues. 

This fever is not inevitably fatal, though the prognosis 
must always be unfavorable. If the disease have commenced 
in an open undisguised form, the chance is increased; but if 
the attack be insidious, the danger is almost always in propor- 
tion to the absence of prominent or decided symptoms. If 
the disease assume, or can be made to put on a regular form, 
that is, if its remissions and exacerbations be in pretty regular 
order, though the symptoms run high, there appears a better 
chance of increasing the one, and moderating the other. But, 
on the other hand, if the disease manifest no tendency to 
regular remission, the risk is greatly augmented. If the 
patient sigh deeply immediately after waking, and before he 
has recovered the power of speech, the presage is bad; or if 
he complain much of soreness and pain, without the part 
having any morbid appearance, it is equally unfavorable. 
Those whose arms become rigid recover seldom; and those 
who have an entire suppression of urine, never. Black vomit 
is always a very unfavorable symptom, especially when at- 



YELLOW FEVER. 65 

tended by hiccough; but it is not necessarily a fatal one, par- 
ticularly in younger people. The "puking of wind" as it 
is called, is perhaps as deadly a symptom as the black vomit. 
On the other hand, should there be a general abatement of 
the symptoms, especially less headache, with a softened skin, 
a generally and equally distributed warmth over the body, 
diminution of thirst, without nausea and vomiting, the tongue 
beginning to clean, less tenderness in the epigastrium, bilious 
foecal discharges, a free flow of bright colored urine, a moder- 
ate and generally diffused perspiration after the abatement of 
the exacerbation, the disease may be considered less desperate, 
and as tending to a healthy solution. 

The pulse in this disease, is less affected than in most severe 
complaints. Indeed but little dependence can be put upon 
it. Sometimes it will resemble the appearance of health at 
the worst stages of the complaint; at others, it has been known 
to have entirely ceased, and afterwards the patient recovered. 

TREATMENT. 

An eminent writer on the treatment of yellow fever, has 
made the following observations: 

" The treatment of this disease is very far from being as 
efficacious or as certain as its danger requires; yet it is not so 
fatal, under favorable circumstances, as might at first sight 
be supposed. In tropical climates, it rages among strangers 
almost exclusively; and these, for the most part, are of a de- 
scription unable to procure the means of mitigating or avert- 
ing danger. In northerly situations, where the disease is, as 
it were, accidental, the mortality, under the best circumstan- 
ces, is considerably less, though very much too great. We 
may attribute some portion of the mortality to the views that 
have been taken of the habits and nature of the disease. The 
supposition of its contagion, increases the mortality, by with- 
holding the necessary aid from the afflicted, under apprehen- 
sion of danger; while others are sacrificed through the means 
of a multitude of hypotheses. The opinion is now, however, 
daily gaining ground, that yellow fever is essentially an in- 
9 



66 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

flammatory disease, and one which requires a vigorous and 
strictly antiphlogistic plan of treatment. But neither a cor- 
rect pathology, nor the best concerted means, will avail, if the 
proper time for their application be lost. Yellow fever, as 
stated by the best authors, must be looked upon as an exqui- 
site gastritis; it is for the relief of this condition of the 
stomach almost exclusively, that remedies are to be sought. 
The oppressed pulse in this disease, always acquires vigor 
by the loss of blood. The quantity to be taken at any given 
time, cannot be readily defined; for this state of the arterial 
system may require a large quantity of blood to relieve it, 
or the pulse may become free and open by the abstraction of 
only a few ounces. The management of the bleeding must, 
therefore, be left to the discretion of the medical attendant. 
If the pulse rise, as it is wont to do under this condition of 
the system, by the loss of blood, its abstraction should be 
continued until it becomes soft under the finger. Nor can 
any rule be laid down for the repetition of bleeding, but one — 
namely, that recourse must be had to it whenever the system 
reacts with force, by which -every symptom becomes aggra- 
vated, even if this occur several times in twenty-four hours. 
It is mainly owing to not taking down the excess of action 
at the heart and arteries, when it occurs, that fatal disorgani- 
zation takes place so frequently; therefore, every paroxysm 
should be carefully watched, that no one pass without having 
the force of the pulse abated, by the loss of blood; for it may 
be confidently said, that the system never reacts forcibly in 
this disease when it will not bear the abstraction of blood, 
either generally or tropically. If tropical bleeding be resort- 
ed to, it must be from the epigastrium; therefore, either 
leeching or cupping must be the mode of abstraction. This 
state of the system is rarely found, however, after the expi- 
ration of eight and forty hours, unless the disease have been 
vigorously treated by previous blood letting. Should this 
period have been lost, bleeding from the general system can 
rarely be successful — tropical bleeding alone now promises 
relief; and this may be tried at any period of the disease, if 



YELLOW FEVER. 67 

the epigastrium remain active. As regards the feebleness of 
reaction, as just stated, we must not be mistaken in its causes 
in the beginning of this disease; as it is almost sure to depend 
on the depressed state of the pulse; for after the blood has 
been taken, in an appropriate quantity, the heat of the skin, 
and the activity of the pulse, will both increase. But it is 
always proper when reaction is feeble, the skin cooler than 
natural, and the extremities perhaps cold, but certainly preter- 
naturally cool, to use external stimuli, with a view of aid- 
ing the powers of the system, in their efforts to produce a 
warmth upon the surface. Bottles or jugs of hot water, heat- 
ed bricks, sinapisms, Cayenne pepper, etc., should be applied 
to the feet and legs, until proper warmth be restored. The 
bowels should be freely opened, but not violently purged; 
for this purpose, cathartic medicine should be given imme- 
diately after bleeding, followed up in three hours by another 
dose, if it do not operate previous to the expiration of that 
time. During the whole disease, the bowels should be kept 
open by mild purgatives or injections; for purging freely is 
uniformly hurtful, unless on the decline of the disease, and 
after the liver has begun to secrete large quantities of bile, 
which requires to be carried off. The mildest drinks should 
be given during the attempt at cure, and those a little tepid. 
Ice may be swallowed in small portions, when it can be pro- 
cured; also, gum-arabic water, barley water, slippery-elm bark 
tea, linseed tea, etc. Drinks should be given in small quantities 
at a time, lest the stomach reject them. If there be much 
sickness at the stomach, attended by much tenderness upon 
pressure, the epigastrium should be leeched or cupped; and 
this may be followed by a blister, if the nausea or vomiting 
continue. Should the headache be great after due depletion 
from the arm, the temporal artery may be opened, or leeches 
or cups be applied to the temples, behind the ears, and to the 
back of the neck. Under these circumstances, if the feet be 
cold, they should be placed in hot water, with which is min- 
gled a quantity of the flour of mustard, and the feet suffered 
to remain in it for fifteen or twenty minutes. This may be 



68 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

repeated, pro re nata. Fresh air ought to be admitted into 
the room; bed clothes and body linen changed as often as 
practicable; light excluded, and noise prohibited. Stimulants 
ought not, in large quantities, to be taken into the stomach, 
which will augment the danger, while bleeding only dimin- 
ishes the power of reaction. In the first stages of yellow 
fever, where recourse is had to internal stimulants, the cases 
are almost uniformly fatal; whereas bleeding, even when in- 
judiciously employed, only depresses the system, which may 
recover by the aid of external stimuli, and the case is not 
so desperate, as when stimuli have been thrown into the sto- 
mach during the state of active inflammation. In the case, 
however, under consideration, it is only the abuse of the pro- 
per remedy; for if the abstraction of blood be judiciously made 
in this state of the system, the system, instead of becoming 
prostrate, will react promptly ; for the pulse, in the beginning 
of this disease is in a state of depression, as has already been 
explained, and not of absolute weakness; for there have been 
cases of recovery, as already stated, after spontaneous hemorr- 
hage from various parts of the body, but when the abstrac- 
tion of blood from the general system, by the lancet, would 
certainly have proved fatal. Nausea and vomiting are trouble- 
some conditions of the stomach, and its relief should be at- 
tempted by leeching, cupping, and blistering, over its region, 
by Seltzer water, the effervescing draught, lime water, milk, 
etc., but rarely in the beginning of the disease by stimulants. 
After decided marks of debility, clove tea, mint tea, or strong 
coffee, with mustard to the epigastrium, may be tried. Where 
the black vomit has come on, the spirit of turpentine, with 
the oil of cinnamon, has been of permanent benefit. Hic- 
cough is sometimes extremely distressing in this complaint. 
Camphor, in doses of from five to ten grains, will sometimes 
relieve it. Should it offend the stomach, it may be given 
very advantageously in a gill of rich flaxseed tea, and thin 
starch, or mucilage, of gum arabic as an enema. The utmost 
attention must be constantly paid to the patient, by the nurse; 
he should have fresh air, constant and frequent renewal of 
fresh, clean linen and bed clothes." 



YELLOW FEVER. 69 

The preceding quotation embraces the most approved treat- 
ment of yellow fever, as adopted by the ablest physicians in 
the West Indies, and the United States. It appears obvious 
that the important objects to be attained by the treatment laid 
down by these physicians, are — 

1st. To reduce the general inflammatory symptoms by an 
antiphlogistic treatment. 

2d. To reduce the inflammation and paroxysms of the 
epigastric region, by the abstraction of blood: and also to 
relieve the arterial system, and take down the excess of ac- 
tion at the heart, by the same process, or by cupping and 
leeching. 

3d. To cause the liver to perform its usual office of secret- 
ing the bile, by the application of leeches and blisters. 

4th. To arrest the determination of inflammation to the 
head, by a resort to cold applications thereto. 

5th. To keep the bowels free and active, by cathartics and 
injections. 

The recommendations for the relief of black vomit, hic- 
cough, and for determining the heat to the surface and ex- 
tremities, are such as have generally proven successful. 

Treatment by our external remedies: 

1st. To reduce the general inflammatory symptoms, we 
apply our Fever Liniment in the same manner as we do in 
bilious, typhus, and congestive fevers, with this difference, 
that we make a more full and frequent application, and in 
producing a powerful perspiration for the first and perhaps 
the second time. We give but about one half the quantity 
of Diaphoretic Drops, that are administered in other cases. 
This treatment will cause a free circulation of the blood 
through the system, and at the same time eject large quanti- 
ties of morbific matter, through the perspirable pores. The 
tonics contained in the Liniment which has entered the cuta- 
neous absorbing pores, will powerfully sustain the patient, 
through the sweating process; and the inflammation measura- 
bly subsides at the same time, by the final application. Here 
it may be observed that the patient is much relieved from 



70 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

distress; a relief so obvious that his own confidence in this 
mode of treatment will be considerably strengthened. 

This treatment is more sure and safe than the antiphlogis- 
tic, which, though it may afford temporary relief, still leaves 
the patient burthened, and liable to contend with the disease 
unconquered. He is by weakness, less able to grapple with 
the second paroxysm than the first, while through the appli- 
cation of our remedies he has not only parted with a share of 
the disease, but is strengthened and made better able to con- 
tend with the second paroxysm, than with the first. 

2d. To relieve the great distress in the epigastric region; 
to regulate the disorder of the arterial system, and to diminish 
the excess of action at the heart; we apply over these regions 
the same Liniment in plasters, upon which we place bottles 
of hot water, or bags of hot hops wet in vinegar, the object 
of which is to produce a more speedy entrance of the Lini- 
ment into the system. This treatment creates a powerful 
action in the organs affected, and permanent relief is to a cer- 
tain extent, the result. There is no uncertainty in adopting 
this course; whereas it is acknowledged that nothing more 
than temporary relief is to be expected by the abstraction of 
blood; and farther, if bleeding be neglected or not performed 
at the proper moment, much injury to the patient is the result. 
It would seem to be absolutely necessary that the physician 
be present at the proper time for letting blood, and that he 
should be so well skilled in the disease as to judge with pre- 
cision, in order to relieve the patient from a returning parox- 
ysm. He should also be enabled to determine the quantity 
to be drawn at each bleeding. Unless all these conditions be 
complied with, the patient suffers injury instead of benefit. 
Another and a more serious difficulty presents itself in this 
mode of treatment. Though the patient by the abstraction 
of blood for the moment find relief; still the disease remains 
unconquered, and by the debilitating process of blood letting, 
the patient is less able to sustain the accumulated load with 
which the system becomes burthened, and nature, unassisted, 
is compelled into an unequal contest. This is not the case 



YELLOW FEVER. 71 

when our remedies are applied; for they impart to her 
strength to unburthen herself of the disease. 

3d. To enable the liver to perform its secretory office, we 
apply a plaster of Stimulating Liniment over the region of 
that organ, to which warmth may be added to render the Lin- 
iment more quickly active. By this process, the torpidity of 
the liver is removed; bile is secreted; and the bowels more 
readily perform their office. By this treatment much advan- 
tage is gained over that of leeching and blistering; because the 
effects intended to be produced by the latter practice, are thus 
more readily obtained and more permanently secured. It is 
not contended that any thing more than temporary relief 
can be expected from leeching and blistering, and that only 
after a considerable lapse of time; whereas, by our mode of 
treatment, relief is obtained at once. In every instance of 
torpidity of the liver, or of any affection of that organ, we 
have been enabled to effect relief by our external remedies. 

4th. We arrest the determination of inflammation to the 
head, by an application of our Stimulating Liniment, in the 
same manner as we have frequently done in cases of hydro- 
cephalus. Let the Liniment be applied to the top and back 
part of the head, and behind the ears, etc. — repeat such appli- 
cation as often as once in two or three hours. We also apply 
the same Liniment to the bottom of the feet. This treatment 
gives action to the organs affected, and in the course of three 
or four hours, relief will be obtained. We have by these 
means always succeeded in arresting inflammation, better than 
those who have made cold applications. In the one case, ac- 
tion is imparted, and the cause removed; in the other a tor- 
pid state of the organs is the result, and the disease remains 
unsubdued. 

5th. Let the Liniment be freely and often applied over the 
abdominal region, which in a great measure will relieve the 
torpidity of the bowels; so much so that gentle physic or 
occasional injections will generally enable the bowels to per- 
form their office. 

We are opposed to administering large doses of strong 



72 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

medicine internally, especially at the commencement of the 
attack. It is far better to rely on the external applications, as 
there can be no danger in them, be they ever so abundant. 
The Liniment passes into the system in small portions, 
through the cutaneous absorbing pores. Sometimes we have 
mixed six or eight drops of Croton oil with one eighth of an 
ounce of Liniment, in order to move the bowels. This is 
safer than strong doses of physic internally given. In the 
treatment of yellow fever our great object is to relieve the 
system of the worst features of this disease, by producing a 
speedy action of all the circulating fluids of the body. In 
some cases, this free circulation is not easily obtained, owing 
to various causes, but generally in consequence of the morbid 
state of the system. When this is the case, much benefit may 
be derived from a use of the saline bath. Let the patient be 
immersed in as hot a bath as he can bear, and apply the flesh 
brush freely to all parts of the body; by so doing, the pores 
are opened, and the absorbents will more readily receive the 
Liniment; for let it be remembered that the quickness of re- 
lief is just in proportion to the rapidity with which the Lini- 
ment is introduced into the system. After the disease is 
overcome, the patient is invigorated, and less liable to attacks 
of chronic complaints than those who are treated according to 
the usual practice. There are no lingering, wandering pains; 
no remnants of the disease lurking in the system; no nervous 
affections or hectic cough. The system is invigorated; the 
stomach performs its healthy action, the bowels are regular, 
and the patient may look forward to the cheering prospect of 
continued health. 



SPOTTED FEVER. 

An epidemic disease now generally recognized by the 
name of spotted fever, prevailed extensively in many parts 
of New-England, and in some parts of several other of the 
American States, at different times between the vears 1S06 



SPOTTED FEVER. 73 

and 1815. A few cases of the disease occurred at Medfield, 
Massachusetts, about thirty miles south-west of Boston, in 
March, 1S06. The number was small, however, not exceed- 
ing twenty, and the disorder did not so extend itself as to at- 
tract general attention until the following year. In March 
and April, 1807, it appeared in Hartford, Connecticut, and in 
several other places on the Connecticut river; and also in 
William stown, in the north-west part of Massachusetts, 
and the Green mountain range. It disappeared during the 
summer, but returned the following winter, visiting, in some 
instances, the same places, besides many others in their neigh- 
borhood, and in similar situations, and also attacking other 
and detached parts of New-England. The disease followed 
a similar course for several succeeding years. It disappeared 
during the summer, and returned in winter, and for several 
years, until 1813, it became each year more extensive and 
more destructive. In some of these years, it also prevailed 
extensively in the interior of the States of New- York and 
Pennsylvania. In 1812, the troops of the United States army 
suffered by it severely, at various places in New-York and 
Vermont. After 1813, the disease rapidly diminished, al- 
though it still continued destructive, especially in some parts 
of Maine. It finally ceased in the spring of 1S15. The last 
place visited by it, so far as our information extends, was Ber- 
wick, in Maine. There have indeed been some occasional 
reports of the prevalence of a similar disease, at different 
times since that period; but it may well be doubted whether 
any of them actually refer to the true spotted fever, as it pre- 
vailed from 1807 to 1815. 

This concise sketch of the progress of the epidemic shows 
that it prevailed much less in summer than in winter. In fact, 
it was only during a part of the colder season of the year, that 
the disease raged most severely. Unlike the ordinary typhus 
fever of our climate, it was much less frequent through the 
autumn and the earlier part of winter than during the latter 
months of winter, and the first months of spring. It is worthy 
of remark, that the disease, in a great measure, avoided the 
10 



74 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

large towns on the sea coast. Although it pervaded at dif- 
ferent times, almost the whole of the interior of New-Eng- 
land, Boston and the other large towns were only slightly 
affected by it. In the interior also, the epidemic was not 
more prevalent, perhaps even less so, in the larger and more 
crowded villages, than in the less populous places. This is 
the more remarkable, since those persons whose modes of 
life render them peculiarly susceptible to disease of every 
kind, are more frequently collected in large towns and vil- 
lages. But this epidemic seemed scarcely to regard peculiar 
susceptibilities of any kind. The man, whose constitution 
was exhausted by excesses, unavoidably yielded more readily 
when attacked, and fell a more certain victim, than the man 
of temperance and regular habits. But it does not appear 
that such were more frequently attacked than others. On the 
contrary, the disease seemed rather to select the healthy and 
vigorous. Although in its range, it embraced persons in 
every period of life from childhood to old age, yet the pro- 
portion of cases and of deaths was much greater among adults 
of mature age, of firm health, and of habits every way cal- 
culated to resist ordinary disease. In many an agricultural 
town in New-England, the correct, virtuous, and middle aged 
heads of families, were swept off in such numbers as to leave 
a mournful vacancy in the general aspect of the community, 
which is even now observable, after the space of twenty years, 
in the absence of old men from congregations assembled for 
their weekly public worship. 

Of the extent of mortality produced by spotted fever, there 
are no means of obtaining accurate knowledge. Except in 
the larger towns, no returns are preserved of the number of 
deaths, or their causes. There are, therefore, no data upon 
which to found an estimate of the destruction of life, caused 
by this epidemic. It was, however very great, and from the 
character and relative station of many of its victims, pecu- 
liarly afflicting. The visitation too, was sudden, and, there- 
fore, produced the greater alarm and distress. In some in- 
stances, the disease visited a place twice, or even three times; 



SPOTTED FEVER. 75 

but, in general, its work was accomplished in a single visita- 
tion of a few weeks duration. Dr. Gallup remarks of the 
epidemic in Vermont, that "There are but few towns whose 
surviving inhabitants will not long, with grief, remember the 
winter of 1812-13, for the loss of twenty, forty, or eighty of 
their most valuable citizens — most valuable to society, on 
account of their being in the prime of life." 

Of the causes of spotted fever, no satisfactory account can be 
given. There was nothing in the habits of the disease, or the 
manner in which it proceeded from place to place, to counte- 
nance the theory of contagion; and such a theory we believe 
has never been suggested. It is difficult to reconcile the phe- 
nomena of this disease, to any of the other theories by which 
the progress of epidemics has been explained. If we attri- 
bute it to some secret atmospheric influence, it is not easy to 
account for their regular and fitful manner, in which it lighted 
upon detached and distant places almost at the same moment, 
while intermediate places were passed by for the time, only 
to be the subjects of a future visitation. It is still more im- 
probable that exhalations from the surface of the earth could 
have been its cause, for the favorite season of the disease was 
fast locked in frost. For a time many physicians were in- 
clined to suppose that ergot in the rye, which is much used 
in New-England, might have contributed to produce the dis- 
ease. But it has never been shown that ergot was more 
abundant in those years in which the epidemic prevailed, than 
in others; and what is still more conclusive, the disease was 
not confined to those districts, in which rye was used for 
bread. We must, therefore, regard the peculiar causes of 
spotted fever, as altogether unknown. 

In the description of the disease, we must necessarily be 
very brief. There were two leading forms of it. One was 
a simple fever of a peculiar character. The other was compli- 
cated by local inflammation, but it still retained the same gene- 
ral character as the other. The more simple form began, like 
most other fevers, with coldness, not generally with distinct 
shivering; pain in the head and back, and especially in the 



76 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

limbs; prostration of strength, etc. In the milder cases, this 
was followed, as in other fevers, with some degree of reaction ? 
manifested by heat, and afterwards by sweating; but, unless 
aided by proper remedies, the reaction was very imperfect;, 
the coldness soon returned, with a peculiar want of action 
over the whole system. The surface of the body lost its pe- 
culiar elasticity, and had in its stead a torpid, half cedematous, 
doughy feeling. Near the close of life, it was covered with 
a profuse perspiration. The stomach early became irritable, 
and rejected whatever was put into it, though without much 
vomiting of any thing else. The prostration increased, and 
was accompanied by violent pains in the back or limbs, which 
frequently changed from place to place, but without spasms of 
any kind. In many cases, delirium came on very early. In 
most instances, as the strength of the patient failed, the mind 
became obscured, and he died comatose. In the more severe 
form of the disease, this comatose state followed the first at- 
tack, without any intervention of a stage of reaction: the 
patient became insensible, and died in a few hours. It was 
generally in this severe form that the spots, or petechias, ap- 
peared, which gave the name of spotted fever to the epidemic. 
They were not, however, confined to the more violent, or to 
the fatal cases, but were occasionally found in those which 
were comparatively mild. Neither, on the other hand, were 
they, by any means, general in the severer cases. In the ear- 
lier periods of the epidemic, they were much more common 
than towards the close of its progress. When they did ap- 
pear, the spots were generally small blotches, caused by blood 
extravasated into the cellular membrane under the skin, of a 
dark purple color. In many other cases, there was a slight 
eruption of a very different character, which seemed to be 
caused by the excited state of the skin, where the diaphoretic 
and stimulating mode of treatment was carried to a great ex- 
tent. About the beginning of the year 1812, the spotted 
fever first began to assume a new form, in many cases, by be- 
coming complicated with some local inflammation. This 
inflammation was sometimes in the throat, producing a species 



SPOTTED FEVER. 77 

of cynanche; but its more common seat was in some one or 
more of the textures of the lungs. The fever, however, still 
retained the same general character as before; and in most of 
the places where this form of the disease prevailed, frequent 
cases of the more simple form were intermingled with it. 
The cases with inflammation were ushered in, rather more 
frequently than the others, with a distinct chill; and this was 
oftener, perhaps, followed by a distinct reaction; but the gen- 
eral disease did not in these cases, any more than in the others, 
retain an inflammatory character. On the contrary, it ran 
speedily into a state of great depression; and when death en- 
sued, it seemed to be less from the influence of the pulmonic 
symptoms, than from the violence of the general disease. 
There was pain in the chest, with cough, and bloody expec- 
toration; but these symptoms, although sometimes severe in 
the commencement of the disease, rarely retained their promi- 
nence so long as to appear to exert a very important influence 
upon its course, or to demand much consideration in the 
treatment, beyond what was necessary to give relief to the 
symptoms themselves. There were many other varieties in 
the modifications of the spotted fever, which the limits of this 
sketch will not permit us to notice; for it assumed a greater 
diversity of forms and appearances than most diseases. It 
was always sudden and abrupt in its attack, as we have here 
described it, but sometimes crept on silently, slowly convert- 
ing a slight indisposition into a severe, and often fatal disor- 
der. In whatever form it appeared, however, it exhibited 
the same general character of great prostration and debility. 
Little is known of its pathological character, except what has 
been learned by inferences from its description and history. 
Only a few examinations after death, were made. The state 
of public feeling throughout the interior of New England 
was much less favorable to such examinations, twenty years 
ago, than it is now; and the medical profession were then 
much less accustomed to press the importance of this mode 
of investigation, than at present. Such examinations as were 
made, have done little to enlighten us in regard to the essen- 



78 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

tial character of the disease. And had they been much more 
numerous, the result would probably have been no more con- 
clusive, than that of similar observations in respect to the 
nature of fever in general. The blood was found to remain 
fluid for some hours after death. It consequently flowed to 
the depending parts, giving a dark color to the skin in those 
parts, which was often mistaken by careless observers for 
putrefaction. But putrefaction did not begin early after death. 
The vessels of the brain, as might be expected from the coma- 
tose state which preceded most of the deaths, were found to 
be turgid with blood, and there was more or less effusion of 
serum into the ventricles, and sometimes of lymph under the 
arachnoid. In the chest, the heart sometimes exhibited marks 
of disease, its vessels being peculiarly injected with blood. 
The lungs, in the cases of simple spotted fever, were healthy. 
We have seen few accounts of dissections in the pneumonic 
form of the disease. In some cases ulcerations, of a peculiar 
character, with black, gangrenous edges, were found in the 
pleura of the lungs, extending deep into the substance of the 
organ. This appearance can hardly have existed, except in 
the severest form of pneumonic affection. But we do not 
remember any description of marks of inflammation in the 
lungs, which did not involve the serous membrane, although, 
from the symptoms, it can hardly be doubted that many such 
cases existed. The abdominal viscera were generally healthy. 
The gall bladder, and the urinary bladder, were filled with 
their appropriate fluids, showing that the secretions had been 
carried on until death. The result of our pathological obser- 
vations is, that this disease was a fever, having a peculiar ten- 
dency to run rapidly into a state of great prostration and 
debility, and often more or less complicated with local inflam- 
mation of an erysipelatous character. 

The practice which had been previously applied to ordinary 
fevers, was so entirely unsuccessful in the treatment of spotted 
fever, that many of the practitioners, on whom the manage- 
ment of the disease at first devolved, seem early to have lost 
all confidence, not only in such a course of practice, but also 



SPOTTED FEVER. 79 

in the resources of professional skill and science, and for a 
time to have abandoned themselves and their patients to em- 
pirical experiments. A respectable writer gives the credit to 
a worthy matron, of the first discovery of a successful treat- 
ment. This consisted in exciting a profuse perspiration, by 
drinking large quantities of a decoction of the leaves and 
twigs of the ground hemlock, or dwarf yew, aided by a rude 
sort of vapor bath, made by boiling billets of wood (of hem- 
lock, if to be obtained), and laying them, wrapped in cloths, 
in bed with the patient, who was at the same time to be kept 
highly stimulated with brandy, and other diffusible stimulants. 
But the more judicious and scientific part of the profession, 
were not long in adapting their treatment to the true state of 
the disease. Adopting a hint, perhaps, from the effects of 
the empirical sweating and stimulating, which soon became 
common, they were able to pursue a course of diaphoretics 
and stimulants which, while avoiding the dangers of empiri- 
cal excess, was eminently successful in arresting the fatal 
tendency of the disease. Such diaphoretics were selected, as, 
while they act promptly and surely, have the least tendency 
to induce debility. A moist heat, applied externally, added 
much to the efficacy of internal diaphoretics. A combination 
of ipecacuanha, opium, and camphor, with sometimes the 
addition of calomel, was much used, and with the best effects. 
It was necessary that a gentle diaphoresis should be constantly 
preserved, always with great care, avoiding profuse sweating. 
The true measure of the use of stimulants, was the preserva- 
tion of a healthful temperature and an equable pulse. In 
some cases, the tendency to coldness and prostration was so 
great, that large quantities of the most powerful stimulants 
were necessary. Brandy in hot water, tincture of cinnamon, 
tincture of opium, with tinctures of peppermint and lavender, 
were among the best; and these were to be used, not so much 
in reference to the quantities given, as the effects produced. 
Very early in the disease, almost as soon as a diaphoresis was 
established, tonics of a more permanent character were em- 
ployed. The cinchona, in its different modes of administra- 



80 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

tion, was chiefly relied on, A favorite mode of using it, by 
many physicians, was in a fermented decoction, with orange 
peel and serpentaria. A nutricious and rather stimulating 
liquid diet was also prescribed quite early in the disease. 
Emetics were avoided, or used only when there were mani- 
fest symptoms of decided derangement of the stomach; and 
cathartics were only used to remove costiveness, and then 
none but the mildest laxatives were to be administered. In the 
pulmonic form of the disease, blisters and expectorants were 
added to the other means. It was sometimes necessary, on 
account of the cough, etc., to defer a little the use of cinchona 
and other tonics; but this did not often happen, and it never 
appeared safe to wait for a decided convalescence before re- 
sorting to them. 

This is a mere outline of the treatment adopted by a large 
proportion of the most successful practitioners^ in this singular 
and formidable disease. It of course admitted and required 
great diversity in its application to the many varieties of form 
and symptoms, which the disease assumed at different places, 
and in the several cases. There were a few physicians, how- 
ever, who objected to such a stimulating practice, and insisted 
upon the necessity of blood letting and other evacuents, and 
who still contend that an anti-phlogistic course of treatment 
was the most successful. It may be said, indeed, that the 
prostration and debility must have been produced by some 
active disease, and if that disease could be arrested by early 
bleeding and other means, much of the prostration would be 
prevented. But, however true this may be in general, in 
the present instance, the good effects which generally fol- 
lowed a judicious course of stimulants, sufficiently showed 
that no such disorganization was produced by the disease, 
which was supposed to cause the debility, as to render it un- 
safe to trust to them to remove it. If the bleeding recom- 
mended had failed to prevent the sinking by arresting the 
disease, it must have increased the exhaustion, and conse- 
quently added to the difficulty of the cure. Moreover, to 
perceive accurately when it would be liable to do this, would 



SPOTTED FEVER. 81 

have required a nicety of discrimination greater than belongs 
to most medical practitioners, if indeed, it can ever be ob- 
tained. The results of the treatment were very various at 
different places. In many places, the disease, though violent 
and severe, yielded to remedies with a docility truly remark- 
able. At the same time, it required unceasing vigilance and 
care to prevent fatal relapses. In such places, most of the 
deaths seemed to result more from accidental imprudences or 
neglect, than from the incurable nature of the disease itself. 
In other places, the disease was speedily fatal to a large pro- 
portion of those attacked. In some small districts, twenty or 
thirty died in rapid succession, before any recovered. Much 
of this inequality is doubtless to be attributed to differences in 
the virulence of the epidemic itself. But there are many 
facts which go to show, that something must be ascribed to 
diversities of treatment. The comparison here intended is 
not between the diaphoretic and stimulating practice on the 
one hand, and the antiphlogistic on the other, so much as be- 
tween each of these systems, and an awkward attempt to 
engraft one or the other of them upon a routine of earlier 
days, which many men found it difficult to abandon. To our 
minds the stimulating treatment, properly regulated, was in- 
comparably preferable to the bleeding; but either was immea- 
surably better than the hesitating, inefficient practice to which 
we have alluded. If it were proper to go into details, many 
examples might be adduced, in which a change of practice 
was followed by a change of results, in the same neighbor- 
hood, and often in the same families, so immediate and so 
striking as to render it difficult to attribute the* difference to 
any thing but the change of treatment. 

The principal treatises on spotted fever, besides various 
papers in the several medical journals of the time, are North 
on Spotted Fever; Strong on ditto; Report of a committee 
of the Massachusetts Medical Society, published in the second 
volume of that Society's communications; Gallop on the 
Epidemics of Vermont; and Hale on the Spotted Fever in 
Gardiner. 
11 



82 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

Remark. — Whoever reads the foregoing article on spotted 
fever, and also on the practice we have adopted in fevers gen- 
erally, will readily discover that more than twenty years ago 
the most successful practitioners in the United States, in that 
desperate predicament in which they were placed, adopted all 
of the essential principles of our system. The history of 
spotted fever is truly appalling! In the usual antiphlogistic 
treatment, almost all who were attacked fell victims to the 
disease; and so terrific had this fell destroyer become that all 
stood aghast! It is acknowledged that the physician aban- 
doned his patient in despair; that he also lost all confidence 
in the science of medicine — until an aged matron discovered 
the means of arresting the direful march of death. She 
adopted the stimulating and diaphoretic practice. She caused 
large blocks of wood to be boiled and made hot, and laid 
them around the patient, which soon produced a proper per- 
spiration. As a natural consequence, a reaction took place 
in the system. She gave large portions of brandy as a stim- 
ulant, which prevented the patient from sinking under the 
sweating process. The physicians took a hint from the re- 
sult of this treatment and attempted to improve it. But how 
much their philosophical ingenuity exceeded that of the aged 
matron, the light which twenty years have shed upon the sub- 
ject will show. Suffice it to say that they adopted all of the 
essential principles in this desperate disease, for which we 
now contend; and the history given by these same physi- 
cians shew conclusively that they adopted it with success. 
The difference arises only in the therapeutical agents which 
they used, and the agents of which our concentrated remedies 
are compounded, to produce the same effect. 

With any medical man who has become acquainted with 
our remedies, we are willing to trust the decision. Here let 
it be remembered, however, that one of the most fatal epidemic 
fevers that ever visited any country, is acknowledged to have 
been successfully treated, without the exhibition of emetics 
or blood-letting. 



SCARLET FEVER CHOLERA. 83 



SCARLET FEVER. 



Scarlet Fever (Scarlatina); a contagious fever, char- 
acterized by a scarlet colored eruption, in patches, which, after 
three or four days, fall off in scales. Some have asserted that 
scarlatina never attacks the same person a second time; but 
more extensive observation has falsified this opinion. It 
seizes persons of all ages; but children and young persons are 
most subject to it. It appears at all seasons of the year, but 
is more frequently met with towards the end of autumn, or 
beginning of winter, at which time it very often becomes a 
prevalent epidemic. Scarlatina, in its inflammatory form, 
is not usually attended with danger, although a considerable 
degree of delirium, in some instances, prevails for a day or 
two; but when it partakes much of the malignant character, 
(scarlatina anginosa,) or degenerates into typhus pu- 
trida, which it is apt to do, it often proves fatal. 



TREATMENT. 



It is truly astonishing, the readiness and certainty with 
which our remedies for fever overcome this complaint. The 
cases of scarlet fever which have heretofore been thus treated, 
have uniformly terminated successfully. But very little alter- 
ation from our usual treatment of fever, is required. If, 
however, delirium supervene, a very free application of our 
Nerve Liniment to the head, and of the Stimulating Liniment 
to the feet, will be of much service. 

The patient has generally been relieved in one day, and it 
is not unfrequent for all appearance of disease to be over- 
come in forty-eight hours. 

CHOLERA. 

Cholera, Cholera Morbus, Cholera Asphyxia, Cholera 
Maligna, Cholera Epidemica, Epidemic Cholera Fever. 
All these names have been applied by different observers, to 



84 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

a formidable disease, which has, for the first time, been re- 
cently known to be extensively epidemic in the world, and 
whose origin and ravages will be reckoned among the most 
remarkable events of the present century. Long prior to the 
appearance of the present epidemic in the Delta of the Gan- 
ges, in 1817, and its subsequent diffusion over so large a por- 
tion of the globe, extensive and destructive visitations of 
Cholera had been noticed by various writers. One of them, 
we learn, occurred in Europe at the close of the seventh cen- 
tury; but most of them originated in the East, and limited 
their devastations to that quarter of the world. The indefati- 
gable Mr. Scott has quoted, from the Madras Courier of 1819, 
a letter which suggests the opinion that a description — though 
certainly a very obscure one — of disease resembling that 
which has prevailed, is to be found in a Hindoo work of great 
antiquity, and cites instances of the epidemic prevalence, and 
great fatality of cholera, from the time of Bontius, in 1629, 
to the present century; but the description of these epidemic 
visitations has not reached us in so detailed a form as to enable 
us to judge correctly of their identity with what has been 
recently observed. Enough, however, may be ascertained, 
to prevent our denying its identity in some instances. Indeed, 
it is impossible not to be struck with the resemblance which 
certain of the more accurately reported of these examples 
bear, to the disease now existing. But this much seems cer- 
tain, that, however cases may, in previous visitations, have 
resembled in character the prevailing disease, no other re- 
corded cholera epidemic has equaled this, in the wideness of 
its diffusion and extent of its ravages, or has preserved its 
character and intensity so little influenced by climate and 
temperature. The question of the identity of the disease 
which has prevailed in Great Britain, on the continent, and 
in the United States, with that which ravaged Hindostan, 
having been settled in the affirmative, at least as regards cer- 
tain of their most important practical points, by the various 
respectable physicians who have witnessed both diseases, we 
may assume that much of the valuable information transmit- 



CHOLERA. 85 

ted to us from India, respecting the nature and treatment of 
the malady which raged there, is applicable to that which has 
ravaged Europe and America. 

Symptoms of Cholera in India. — The disease generally 
makes its attack in the night, or towards morning, with such 
excessive vomiting, that the whole contents of the stomach 
appear to be discharged; and, nearly at the same time, the 
bowels are copiously emptied, as though all the solid matters 
in the intestinal canal were evacuated. In some cases, a wa- 
tery purging precedes the vomiting by some hours; but, they 
more frequently occur simultaneously. After the first copious 
discharge, the patient experiences a distressing feeling of ex- 
haustion, and faintness, with ringing in the ears, and giddi- 
ness. The subsequent discharges from the stomach, and those 
from the bowels, do not differ in appearance from each other, 
excepting so far as the matters ejected from the stomach may 
be tinged by medicine, or other foreign ingesta; they are in 
general watery, colorless, and inodorous, and are compared in 
their appearance to barley broth, or more frequently to rice- 
water. Sometimes they are like milk, occasionally yellowish, 
greenish, like muddy water, or yeast; but the congee stools, 
as they are emphatically termed, which consist of albuminous 
flakes floating in serum, or discharges of pure serum, are of 
the most frequent occurrence. The ejections sometimes take 
place without effort or uneasiness, but occasionally very forci- 
bly, with simultaneous vomiting, spasms, and sinking of the 
pulse. The violent action of the alimentary canal is not of 
long continuance, the powers of the system not being able to 
support it: hence the vomiting and purging cease some hours 
before death; but, in some cases, a discharge of serum takes 
place from the rectum, on any movement of the body, until 
the fatal termination. In most cases, some time after the com- 
mencement of this affection of the intestinal tube, but, in 
others, previously to it, spasmodic contractions of the mus- 
cles of the fingers and toes, are felt; and these affections gra- 
dually extend along the limbs to the trunk. The spasms are 
imperfectly clonic, or convulsive, with unfrequent relaxations: 



86 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

they are attended with great pain, and leave, for some days 
afterwards, a degree of stiffness in the muscles. The pulse 
is, from the first, small, weak, and indurated; and, after a cer- 
tain interval, but especially on the accession of spasms, or 
severe vomiting, it sinks suddenly, so as to be speedily im- 
perceptible in the external parts. The length of time a per- 
son will live in this pulseless state, is remarkable. In a case 
related by Dr. Kellett, the pulse was gone within three hours 
from the attack, yet the man lived twenty-two hours in that 
state. On the cessation of spasms and vomiting/ and some- 
times apparently from the exhibition of remedies, the pulse 
will return in the extremities for a short time, and again cease. 
The skin is cold from the commencement of the disease, and, 
as it advances, becomes gradually colder, and is covered with 
profuse sweat, or a clammy moisture. The state of its circu- 
lation, and its insensibility, is sometimes strongly denoted by 
the following circumstances: Leeches will not draw blood 
from it; blisters, and other vesicatories, will not act; and 
even the mineral acids, and boiling water, produce no effect; 
and some patients are not even sensible of their application. 
In Europeans, the color of the surface is often livid; the lips 
and nails present a blue tint; and the skin of the feet and 
hands becomes corrugated, and exhibits a sodden appearance, 
as after long immersion in hot water. With these symptoms 
co-exist violent pain of the intestines, with a sensation of 
writhing and twisting there; heartburn, which the sufferer 
compares to a fire consuming his entrails; excessive thirst; 
anxiety, with inexpressible uneasiness about the prascordia; 
hiccough; jactitation; and, notwithstanding the actual coldness 
of the surface, and even of internal parts which are accessible 
to the touch, (the tongue, for instance,) a sense of heat which 
impels the patient incessantly to throw off the bed-clothes. 
The breathing is much affected, being performed either more 
slowly than usual, (sometimes, for instance, in the advanced 
stage, only at the rate of seven respirations in a minute,) or 
the inspirations are short and sudden, with violent pain from 
spasm of the diaphragm; the voice being feeble, hollow, 



CHOLERA. 87 

hoarse, and interrupted. The eyes are sunk in their orbits; 
the corneal fluid, the conjunctivae, frequently suffused with 
blood; the features collapsed; and the whole countenance 
wears a cadaverous aspect. The secretions (those of the skin 
and intestines excepted) are generally suspended. The func- 
tions of the mind are undisturbed, almost to the very last 
moment of existence. The approach of recovery is denoted 
by the rising of the pulse, return of heat to the surface, in- 
clination to natural sleep, diminution or cessation of vomiting, 
purging, and spasms; and, after an interval, the reappearance 
of bilious stools, urine, and saliva. 

Regarding the preceding as a picture of the general type 
of a disease rather variable in its character, we shall proceed 
to relate the more striking deviations from the ordinary forms 
which were observed in India. Instead of an exceedingly 
depressed state, there was a marked excitement, with a hot, 
dry skin, and, in several instances, a pulse of considerable 
force, throughout a great part of the course of the disease. 
This, in some cases, arose from the early application of stim- 
ulants; but in others it appeared to be an essential part of the 
disorder. These cases yielded most certainly and readily to 
treatment; and hence many of them have been subdued, with- 
out the occurrence of sinking or debility. It was at first a 
matter of doubt, whether this description of disorder really 
belonged to the epidemic; but that it did so, was placed beyond 
all question, by some of the more prostrated cases degenerat- 
ing into the ordinary low form. The most fatal variety of 
the disease, was denoted by the slightness of commotion in 
the system. There was no vomiting; hardly any purging; 
perhaps there were only one or two stools, with no percepti- 
ble spasm; no pain of any kind; a mortal coldness, with a 
check of circulation from the beginning; and the patient died 
without a struggle, within three or four hours. Several in- 
stances were heard of, at Hoobly and other places, of natives 
being struck with the disease while walking in the open air, 
and who, having fallen down, retched a little, complained of 
vertigo, deafness and blindness, and expired in a few minutes. 



88 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

Mr. Scott informs us, that this most deadly form of the dis- 
ease frequently manifested itself in local epidemic visitations, 
which were often observed in India — ail the cases occurring 
at the same time in a given district, partaking of the same 
peculiarity of character. 

The collapsed form of disease, first described, is that which 
has been most frequently observed. In fatal cases, its dura- 
tion varies from four to eight hours; while in those which 
terminate favorably, (a result often apparently due to early 
medical assistance,) the patient may be restored to perfect 
convalescence, in a period ranging between twenty-four and 
forty-eight hours. But, in many cases, considerable disturb- 
ance of the system intervenes between the period of collapse 
and restoration to health, or this disturbance may itself cause 
death. The Indian reporters mention two forms of this dis- 
order. In the one, with some excitement of the system, the 
bowels continue to discharge, for many days, first brown and 
watery, then dark, black, pitchy stools, sometimes with blood, 
and peculiar pain in the bowels, particularly in the rectum. 
The other, a distinct febrile form, we shall describe in the 
language of the Bengal Report: — " The fever, which almost 
invariably attends this second stage of the disease, (in Euro- 
peans,) partook much of the nature of the common bilious 
attacks of these latitudes. There was a hot, dry skin, with a 
foul, deeply furred tongue, parched mouth, thirst, sick sto- 
mach, restlessness, watchfulness, and quick, variable pulse, 
sometimes with delirium and stupor, and at others, marked af- 
fections of the brain. Generally, when the disorder proved 
fatal in this stage, the tongue, from being cream colored, be- 
came brown, and sometimes black, hard, and more deeply 
furred; the teeth and lips were covered with sordes; the state 
of the skin varied, chills alternating with heats; the pulse 
became extremely quick, weak, and tremulous; hiccough, 
catching of the breath, great restlessness, and deep moaning, 
succeeded; and the patient soon sunk, incoherent and insen- 
sible, under the debilitating effects of low, nervous fever, and 
frequent, dark, tarry, alvine discharges." A consecutive 



CHOLERA. 89 

fever, similar to this, we learn from Doctors Russell and 
Barry, is of more frequent occurrence in Russia than in India. 
The following description we owe to these gentlemen: — 
"After the blue, cold period has lasted from twelve, twenty- 
four, seldom to forty-eight hours, or upwards, the pulse and 
external heat begin gradually to return; headache is complain- 
ed of, with noise in the ears; the tongue becomes more load- 
ed, redder at the tip and edges, and also drier. High colored 
urine is passed, with pain, and in small quantities; the pupil 
is often dilated; soreness is felt, on pressure, over the liver, 
stomach and belly. In short, the patient is laboring under a 
continual fever, not to be distinguished from ordinary fever. 
A profuse perspiration may come on from the second or third 
day, and leave the sufferer convalescent; but much more fre- 
quently, the quickness of the pulse and heat of the skin con- 
tinue; the tongue becomes brown and parched; the eyes are 
suffused and drowsy; there is a dull flush, with stupor and 
heaviness, about the countenance, much resembling typhus; 
dark sordes collect about the lips and teeth; sometimes the 
patient is pale, squalid, and low, with pulse and heat below 
natural; but with the typhus stupor, delirium supervenes, and 
death takes place from the fourth to the eighth day, or even 
later, in the very individual, too, whom the most assiduous 
attention had barely saved in the first or cold stage. To give 
a notion of the importance and danger of cholera fever, a 
most intelligent physician, Doctor Reimer, informs us, that of 
twenty cases treated under his own eyes, who fell victims to 
the disease, seven died in the cold stage, and thirteen in the 
consecutive fever." 

The same gentlemen state, as the result of their observa- 
tions, that the following are the points of difference between 
the European epidemic and that of India : — "First, the evacu- 
ations, both upwards and downwards, seem to have been 
much more profuse and ungovernable in the India than in 
the present cholera, though the character of the evacuations 
are exactly the same. Secondly, restoration to health from 
the cold stage, without passing through consecutive fever of 
12 



90 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

any kind, was by far more frequent in India than in Peters- 
burgh; nor did the consecutive fever then assume a typhoid 
type. Thirdly, the proportion of deaths in the cold stage, 
compared with those in the hot, was far greater in India ac- 
cording to Doctor RussePs experience, than in Petersburgh. 
Fourthly, the number of medical men and hospital attendants 
attacked with cholera during the present epidemic, in propor- 
tion to the whole employed, and to other classes in society, 
has been beyond all comparison greater in Petersburgh than 
in India, under similar circumstances." 

Doctor Keir of Moscow, gives the following description 
of the consecutive, or secondary morbid state : — " A second 
ordeal now begins, sometimes as severe, and frequently not 
less fatal, though more slowly so, than the first: this is pro- 
bably the effect of morbid changes, which have been induced 
during the first stages of the disease. The appearance of the 
complaint is now entirely changed, insomuch that one who 
had not seen the patient during the first period, or been told 
of the symptoms, could not possibly know he was suffering 
from the epidemic. I have observed the disease in this, its 
usual period, to assume four forms: the first, an inflammatory, 
or rather sub-inflammatory state of the stomach and bowels, 
most frequently the latter, sometimes conjoined; the second, 
inflammatory irritation of the lungs, with pain in the chest, 
cough, viscid expectoration, and fever, approaching as a criti- 
cal metastasis of the disease; the third, bilious or bilio-ner- 
vous fever, with suppuration of the parotid glands, in one case, 
with axillary suppurating bubo, towards the end of the fever, 
an inflammatory irritation of the lungs took place, ending in 
vomica; and the fourth, a congestive sub-inflammatory state 
of the brain, and spinal cord. This last, as was natural to 
expect, from the nature and seat of the affection, proved by 
far the most dangerous and most frequent fatal form of the 
second period; it appears generally to supervene after the 
purging, vomiting, and cramps had been relieved, and the ex- 
ternal heat in some degree restored; the patient complained 
of pain in the back, between the shoulder blades, or in some 



CHOLERA. 91 

other part of the spine, sometimes along the whole tract; he 
appeared sleepy to such a degree, that I was disposed to at- 
tribute this state, in part at least, to the effect of the opium 
given in the first period. But I was soon convinced that the 
cause of this symptom, and of others strongly characteristic 
of this form of the disease, namely, the filling of the vessels 
of the sclerotica with red blood, was a congestive sub-inflam- 
matory state of the brain, and of the spinal cord. This strik- 
ing symptom at first began to show itself in the inferior part 
of the globe of the eyes; it gradually increased, and little by 
little, reached the upper part, while the eyes turned upward, 
exposing the lower part gorged with blood. This state of 
the patient generally ended in a complete coma, and proved 
fatal in a few hours afterwards." 

Besides the various and appalling symptoms, which indicate 
general derangement of the action of the solids, there are 
appearances in the blood, drawn during the collapsed stage, 
showing that the fluids feel the influence of this formidable 
disease. These appearances are very uniformly expressed by 
the terms dark, black, or tarry, in regard to color, and by 
thick, ropy, syrupy, or semi-coagulated, in respect to con- 
sistence. 

This change in the condition of the circulating fluids is 
fully proved to be in the ratio of the duration of the disease; 
the blood, at the commencement, seeming to be nearly or al- 
together natural, and more or less rapidly assuming a morbid 
state, as the malady advances. This condition was less con- 
spicuous in cases of cholera ushered in by symptoms of ex- 
citement, than where the symptoms of excitement had oc- 
curred early; and in certain rare cases it was not observable 
at all, and the blood flowed readily from the vein; but the re- 
verse was the fact, both with respect to its condition and 
manner of flowing from the arm, in an immense majority of 
instances. In general, after a certain quantity of dark, thick 
blood had been drawn, its color became lighter, its consistence 
less thick, and the circulation revived, such appearances al- 
ways affording grounds for a proportionably favorable prog- 



92 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

nosis. There is some discrepancy in the accounts transmit- 
ted to us, of the mode in which this diseased hlood coagulates. 
In some instances, we learn, the coagulation is rapid, whilst 
in others it is slow and imperfect. Reports are unanimous 
in declaring it deficient in summer, and destitute of the buffy 
coat. The latter is occasionally observed in cases attended 
with reaction, in which the blood is not black and thick. 
The discharges from patients suffering under this disease, were 
subject to experiment by Doctor Christie. The secretion con- 
sists of two substances, the one a transparant serous fluid, the 
other an opaque white coagulum ; the former perfectly soluble 
in cold water, the latter quite insoluble. These matters being 
submitted to the reaction, the fluid part was found to be pure 
serum, and the coagulated portion fibrin. The secretion, 
threfore, as the author remarks, has a composition similar to 
that of blood deprived of its coloring matter; but the serum 
is in much larger proportion than the fibrin. 

Character of the Epidemic, as it appeared in Sunder- 
land in 1831. — Thus far, (says the English writer,) our ac- 
count of this formidable malady has been derived from the 
very valuable mass of information, with which we have been 
favored by our medical brethren in India, and the many in- 
telligent men who have witnessed its ravages on the continent 
of Europe. Circumstances having brought it under our own 
observation, we shall endeavor to convey succinctly to the 
reader, the results of our experience, prefaced by a few re- 
flections on the character and designation of the disease, 
which this experience has suggested to us. Were we to at- 
tempt a definition of epidemic cholera, the following, accord- 
ing to our experience, would comprise its distinctive symp- 
toms. After watery diarrhea, or other slight indispositions, 
ensue vomiting and purging of a white colorless fluid, violent 
cramps, great prostration, and collapse. 

Note. — By collapse in this definition, is meant a feebleness 
or almost an arrest of the circulation; the death-like appear- 
ance, the coldnesss which may in other diseases be observed 
after they have existed some time, and as the powers of life 



CHOLERA. 93 

are passing away ; but which occur in what we shall call the 
cold or choleric stage of the epidemic, in a short time after 
its commencement, as though they formed an essential part 
of it. The degree and early accession of this collapse, and 
the white discharge, are the only distinctive marks that we 
are aware of, between this stage of the epidemic and the or- 
dinary cholera, the last occurring simultaneously with the 
vomiting and cramps, or shortly after them. Should the pa- 
tient survive the last train of symptoms, a state of excitement 
and fever supervenes. We can convey a correct idea of the 
disease, only by dividing it into three stages, the incipient, 
the cold or choleric, and the, febrile: the division accords with 
the character of the disease. 

1st. Symptoms of the Incipient Stage. — In an immense 
majority of instances, diarrhea has been the prominent symp- 
tom of this stage. Languor and lassitude, occasionally nausea 
and vertigo, co-existed with the disorder of the bowels, and 
sometimes certain of these symptoms may "have appeared 
without it; but its occurrence has been so common, that we 
have treated few cases in which it has not preceded the more 
formidable symptoms. On examining the discharges, if we 
have an opportunity of doing so shortly after the occurrence 
of the diarrhea, they will be observed to be fcecal and bilious; 
but we shall find that they subsequently bear the serous char- 
acter of those which occur after the choleric stage is fully 
found: they are passed copiously, and without much griping; 
the feeling of debility which attends them is great, and this 
diarrhea is so exhausting, that we have met with patients, 
especially those advanced in life, in whom a considerable de- 
gree of collapse had occurred, with a feeble pulse, scarcely 
exceeding fifty, before the accession of vomiting and cramps. 
The natural tendency of this purging is, we believe, to pass 
into the choleric stage; but transition has frequently occurred 
shortly after some dietetic error, either as to quantity or 
quality of food, or after exposure to cold. The commence- 
ment of the purging has sometimes preceded, by several days, 
the accession of the choleric stage, and occasionally only by 



94 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

eight or ten hours; but forty-eight hours has been its mean 
duration, calculated for a great number of instances. We 
have dwelt more on this incipient stage, from a conviction, 
the result of considerable observation of the disease, that sub- 
sequent symptoms might often be prevented, and life pre- 
served, by early and proper treatment of the diarrhea. 

2d. Symptoms of the Cold, or Choleric Stage. — Our 
description will be more intelligible, if we divide into two 
periods this very important stage, which has, in truth, given 
its name to the disease, and, by its fearful symptoms, has en- 
grossed such general attention, that the fact of its being but 
part of a series of changes, has been too often lost sight of. 
First Period. — The time of invasion has been, as in India, 
in a great majority of instances, from two to four o'clock in 
the morning. The patient is attacked with uneasiness of the 
stomach, occasionally amounting to pain, to which speedily 
succeeds vomiting of the characteristic fluid so frequently 
described; and, if diarrhea have preceded, which, in almost 
all the cases we have noticed, has been the case, a purging of 
the same fluid, the fcecal contents of the canal having been 
previously expelled. The vomiting is rarely full and effec- 
tual, consisting rather of unsatisfactory retchings, than of a 
full discharge of the contents of the stomach; but sometimes 
these contents are expelled forcibly, as if squirted from a 
syringe. The discharges from the bowels are occasionally 
scanty, but much more frequently they take place copiously 
and forcibly. Simultaneously with the vomiting, or not un- 
frequently before this symptom has occurred, cramps take 
place; and the agony that attends them constitutes a great 
share of the sufferings of the patient, who incessantly entreats 
that friction may be applied to the parts they affect. How- 
ever soon our visit may be made, the pulse will generally be 
found to be feeble and frequent; the skin, in point of heat, 
below the healthy standard, the countenance shrunk, and, if 
not livid, pallid; and the respiration hurried, if not checked, 
as it frequently is, by spasms of the diaphragm and intercostal 
muscles. The circulation sinks remarkably, and sometimes 



CHOLERA. 95 

appears momentarily to cease, on every occasion of severe 
vomiting or spasm. Second Period. — The mean duration of 
the preceding varies from about eight, to twelve hours; the 
vomiting and spasms then either totally subside, or recur at 
much longer intervals, and the patient sinks into a state of 
extreme collapse. The pulse at the wrist is scarcely, or not 
at all perceptible; the surface is universally moist and cold, 
excepting as heat is imparted from without, for the instant the 
hands or other parts are exposed, they become of an icy cold- 
ness; blueness, if it exist at all, — but it is by no means a uni- 
form symptom, — is now conspicuous on the face and hands, 
which last have the shrunk and sodden appearance so gene- 
rally described; the tongue is moist, and, if not actually cold, 
at least cooler than natural ; and the voice is of that mingled 
huskiness and feebleness which strikes the ear so peculiarly. 
In this condition there is little suffering, excepting from the 
sense of weight and oppression at the praecordia, of which 
the patient complains much; for even should spasms occur, 
they are now too feeble to excite much pain; the respiration 
is slow; the conjunctivae, in their inferior hemisphere, are 
frequently injected with dark colored blood; and the insensi- 
bility of the stomach is so great, that the most powerful 
stimulants may be given and retained without the organ being 
apparently more sensible of their presence than if it were a 
lifeless pouch. The urine is suspended throughout the whole 
course of a choleric stage so intense as we have described it. 
3d. Symptoms of the Febrile Stage. — The preceding 
stage, in most cases, makes a very gradual transition into the 
present one. After the patient has remained in a collapsed 
state for a considerable time, some degree of warmth will be 
found returning to the surface, which, for a variable period, 
perhaps for a couple of days, has been almost of an icy cold- 
ness; and the pulse is proportionally developed, being early 
perceptible at the wrist, generally about, eighty, and soft; the 
vessels of the conjunctivae gradually become distended with 
blood; or if those of the inferior hemisphere have been t<o 
during the stage of the collapse, the distention now diffuses 



96 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

itself over the whole membrane; the patient, who, on his 
attention being roused, is perfectly sensible, complains of se- 
vere pain in the head, of a sense of giddiness, and that the 
light distresses his eyes. The tongue, in this early stage, is 
clean and moist; the bowels are readily acted upon by medi- 
cine, and the discharges are feculent, and, though somewhat 
clayey, contain a proportion of bile; but the urinary secretion 
is sometimes either not restored, or is considerably deficient 
for a day or two after the establishment of fever. In the 
progress of the fever, the tongue becomes black, and sordes 
accumulate about the teeth; the eyes become more and more 
injected; the intellect more and more torpid, though still the 
patient can be roused to answer questions, and make a sensible 
remark on his condition; but the instant the conversation 
ceases, the eyes are turned up in the orbit, exposing through 
their half-closed lids the red sclerotica, and the patient is in a 
state of profound stupor; urinary secretions are now esta- 
blished, and the urine, which at first was dark colored and 
cloudy, is now limpid and pale; the alvine discharges are 
darker colored than at first; and throughout the disease there 
is a deficiency of vascular action and of temperature, which 
we have not observed to the same extent in typhus, or any 
other fever. However flushed the countenance may appear — 
and it is often very considerably so — the temperature of the 
surface is below the healthy standard; and we have not often 
found the pulse above ninety, Typhoid is not an inappro- 
priate designation of the condition we have endeavored to 
describe; but we think that an individual who has once 
watched the progress of such a case, would run no risk of 
confounding it, on a future occasion, with typhus; — the defi- 
ciency of vascular and calorific power; the peculiar vascu- 
larity of the eye; the absence of subsultus and muttering 
delirium, (for though delirium occasionally occurs during 
night, the condition of the intellect throughout is much more 
one of torpor than of irregularity,) would be marked, by 
which he would discriminate the two affections. The dura- 
tion of such a febrile stage as we have described, is from a 



CHOLERA. 97 

Week to ten days. Its termination has been, in a considerable 
majority of instances which have fallen under our observation, 
fatal. The brain appeared to us to be the organ mainly 
affected; and by this view our treatment has been chiefly 
guided, though, at the same time, the condition of the intesti- 
nal canal has not been neglected. In another form, and one 
which supervenes on a minor degree of collapse than the 
preceding, the symptoms do not differ from those described 
above, excepting that there are indications of greater excite- 
ment — more warmth of surface or more force and frequency 
of pulse. Depletion could be more freely practiced, and it 
was altogether a more tractable form of disease. The mildest 
and most tractable type of the febrile stage is denoted by 
symptoms of general but moderate excitement, with epigas- 
tric pain or pressure, headache and giddiness; the tongue be- 
ing at the same time either clean, with a disposition to become 
dry and glazed, or slightly white and furred; the skin warm; 
the pulse free and forcible; the urine highly colored, and the 
thirst considerable. In such a case there is little or no con- 
fusion of thought or delirium, and the eyes are not injected. 
We need scarcely remark that examples of this mild and tract- 
able type of the febrile stage occurred after a choleric stage, 
in which the symptoms of collapse had been inconsiderable, 
in which the urinary secretion had not been suspended, or 
which had not always been attended with vomiting — a symp- 
tom occasionally wanting in slight cases. In the preceding 
sketch of the febrile stage, it will be understood that, as in 
the case of the choleric stage, we have not attempted to de- 
scribe all the various shades of intensity in which the disease 
manifests itself. The extremes only are given. To describe 
all the intermediate degrees would have swelled the article 
beyond reasonable limits, and would have proved a burden to 
the memory of the reader. 

4th. P7*ognosis. — The danger of the disease is, in all cases, 

to be estimated from the degree of collapse attending the cold 

or choleric stage. In India, it was remarked that the cases in 

which spasms and vomiting were the most violent, were by 

13 



OS DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

no means fraught with the most peril; and what we have 
seen of the disease enables us to bear testimony to the accu- 
racy of the remark; for when we have heard the attendants 
exulting in the cessation of the spasms, and the facility with 
which the stomach retained medicine or food, and have felt, 
at the same time, the pulseless wrists, and the cold and clam- 
my hand, we have seen, in these apparently favorable omens, 
only the natural progress of the disease from a bad condition 
to one still worse. Whether we are to dread a fatal result in 
the cold stage, the intensity and duration of the collapse in 
the former of these stages are the measure of the danger; for 
if the patient die in this stage, he dies of collapse, and if he 
survive it, and pass into the state of fever, the character of 
this fever is malignant and dangerous, in proportion to the 
same collapse. 

5th. Diagnosis. — From ordinary cholera the cold stage is 
to be distinguished, as it appears to us, by the peculiarity of 
the discharges, which has been sufficiently dwelt upon, and 
by the degree of collapse and its early occurrence. Cases 
have been adverted to, which, at least in the choleric stage, 
could not be discriminated from ordinary cholera, excepting 
perhaps, from their taking place at a season of the year when 
ordinary cholera is never observed; but it may be remarked, 
that no one would infer the existence of the epidemic from 
such cases, though he might be disposed to acknowledge that 
they belonged to it, if cases less equivocal were simultane- 
ously prevalent and especially if they originated under cir- 
cumstances mentioned in the preceding pages. 

We have been favored, by a gentleman of high character 
and attainments, with a report of two cases, regarded at the 
time they occurred, as aggravated cases of the ordinary dis- 
ease: both took place in the interior, under circumstances in 
which there was not the slightest ground to suspect contagion, 
and previously to there being any suspicion of the existence 
of the epidemic in this country. In one, the symptoms bore, 
unquestionably, a considerable resemblance to the choleric 
stage of the epidemic; but no fever supervened. The symp- 



CHOLERA. 9.9 

toms of the other shall be given in the words of the writer: 
"The total, or nearly total suspension of the secretion by the 
kidneys; the watery vomiting and stools; the severity of the 
spasms; the shrunk and corrugated state of the skin on the 
hands and feet, and the blueness of his nails, persuaded me 
that his disease was of the spasmodic type. In him, moreo- 
ver, a slow fever succeeded the original symptoms, and long 
retarded his recovery." This case occurred in the beginning 
of July, 1831. There is a certain form of the febrile stage — 
that which supervenes on a choleric stage, attended with ex- 
treme collapse — which the deficiency of the temperature 
and the circulation, the congested state of the conjunctiva 
from the very commencement of the fever, and the peculiar 
torpor of the intellect, would, as it appears to us, enable the 
observer to discriminate from any fever which we are in the 
habit of witnessing in this country, provided he saw the pa- 
tient early and watched him throughout; but in the majority 
of instances, the diagnosis can only be correctly drawn by 
coupling the preceding history of the case with the existence 
of fever and with its character. 

6th. Appearances presented on Dissection. — The exter- 
nal appearance of the body closely resembles that which has 
been noticed during life. The solids are shrunk, the surface is 
livid, the skin of the hands and feet is corrugated, the nails are 
blue, and the fingers are often rigidly contracted. There is no 
putrefaction, nor any characteristic fetor from the abdominal 
cavity. In the head are found marks of congestion, and 
occasionally even of extravasation. These occurrences were 
found very common by Doctor Davy, in dissections in Cey- 
lon; and Doctor Keir, of Moscow, discovered in the Russian 
form of the disease, the blood vessels of the brain and its 
membranes more or less turgid with blood, particularly to- 
wards the base, with a fluid effused into its convolutions, and 
more or less of serum in the lateral ventricles. In the thorax, 
the pleura and pericardium are found, as the serous mem- 
branes generally are in this disease, perfectly healthy, with 
the exception, occasionally, of an unusual dryness. The 



100 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

lungs are sometimes in a natural state, but more frequently 
gorged with dark colored blood, so as to resemble liver or 
spleen; or they have been found collapsed on each side of the 
spine, leaving the thorax nearly empty. This latter appear- 
ance Doctor Pollock explained by supposing gas to be extri- 
cated within the cavity of the pleura; but the thorax having 
been opened in such cases under water, and no air having 
been found, Mr. Scott is disposed to ascribe it to a contractile 
power exerted by the viscus, sufficient to overcome the at- 
mospheric pressure. Both sides of the heart are in general 
distended with dark blood, and the bronchia are frequently 
filled with mucus. In the abdomen, the vessels of the liver 
are much congested, and pour forth blood copiously when 
incisions are made into that organ. But this congestion is 
not uniformly found; the gall bladder is turgid with black 
bile, and its ducts are sometimes constricted and impermea- 
ble, though occasionally in an opposite state. The peritoneum 
is often quite healthy, but the portion investing the alimentary 
canal has frequently an inflamed appearance, from the exceed- 
ingly loaded state of its blood-vessels. This congestion is 
sometimes so great as to give the appearance of gangrene; 
but by drawing the finger over the surface, innumerable small 
veins may be found running in every direction, as in a pre- 
paration nicely injected, and the texture is found to be resist- 
ing and firm. This portion of the peritoneum, however, 
occasionally bears marks of actual inflammation, especially if 
the patient has lingered long before death. It then presents 
a thickened appearance externally, and its color varies from a 
pale vermilion, through all the deeper shades, to a dark pur- 
ple hue; the former being chiefly remarkable on the surface 
of the duodenum and jejunum, the latter on the ileum, where 
it terminates in the coecum. At other times, the whole ali- 
mentary tube, instead of this congested state, presents a 
blanched appearance, both internally and externally. The 
omentum is sometimes healthy; at others, it presents the 
same appearance of extreme vascularity as the peritoneal sur- 
face of the alimentary canal. The following appearances are 



CHOLERA. 101 

discovered on laying open the stomach and intestinal tube: A 
white, opaque, and viscid substance is found adhering to the 
surface of some portions of the mucous membrane; and in 
many cases, it is so abundant in the intestines as completely to 
fill parts of them, of a greater or less extent. The stomach, 
and portions of the intestines, are filled with a transparent or 
turbid serous fluid, and frequently the viscid matter mentioned 
above is found intimately mixed with the serous fluid, or 
floating in it in the form of flakes. The mucus membrane, 
except when inflamed, which it not unfrequently is, has an 
unnatural whiteness, is often soft and pulpy, and in general — 
especially in the stomach and small intestines — can be easily 
detached by scraping, in the form of thick pulp, from the 
subjacent coat. These appearances are sometimes more or 
less partial; but some of them are generally found throughout 
the whole extent of the tube. They extend, in some cases, to 
the mucous membrane of the bladder and ureters, and have 
been found, in some instances, in that lining the bronchia. 
The dissections in Sunderland have generally furnished results 
corresponding with those obtained elsewhere. In concluding 
this rather unsatisfactory portion of our subject, we cannot 
refrain from expressing a conviction, that the symptoms during 
life throw much more light on the nature of the disease, and 
its appropriate treatment, than appearances after death. 

7th. Nature of the Disease.— Many writers have displayed 
much ingenuity in attempting to trace all the phenomena of 
the choleric stage, the stage which has been the principal sub- 
ject of investigation. But there has been but little accord- 
ance among medical reasoners, as to the part of the body in 
which the phenomena of the disease are presumed to origi- 
nate; for the nervous system generally, the ganglionic exclu- 
sively, the blood itself, and the lining of the digestive canal, 
have each been equally unable to sustain their cause. The diver- 
sity of these views, is a proof of the intricacy of the subject; 
and probably, also, since they have all proceeded from ob- 
serving and ingenious men, are evidence of the variable nature 
of the disease; each reasoner being, perhaps, influenced by that 



102 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

portion of the general phenomena of the epidemic, which pre- 
dominated in the cases it was his lot most frequently to witness. 
The partial nature, too, may be in a considerable degree as- 
cribed to the unfortunate influence on medical reasoners of 
the expression, proximate cause, as a substitute for the more 
comprehensive term, essence, or nature of the disease. 
Even those who affect to use it as an equivalent term for na- 
ture of the disease, are yet insensibly influenced by the 
words they employ. Amidst the crowd of phenomena pre- 
sented to their notice in certain maladies, they often assume, 
on very insufficient grounds, that some one fact is the original 
of all others; and this they invest with the title of proximate 
cause. If the facts related respecting epidemic cholera are 
compared with the explanations offered of them, it will be 
found that each medical reasoner has attributed the com- 
mencement of the phenomena of the disease to an affection of 
some part of the frame; which affection unquestionably exists, 
in a very great number of instances, but neither with that 
uniformity, nor with that priority of time, which will war- 
rant us in concluding that it was the cause of all other symp- 
toms. It seems a rational supposition, that the remote cause 
of a disease may act, in some instances, first on one, in others 
on another part of the system, from some local weakness, or 
peculiarity of individual constitution, or from some specialty 
in the mode of application of the cause; and yet that the dis- 
ease shall retain, in each case, such a resemblance to a com- 
mon type, as shall prove its identity. It is likewise supposa- 
ble, that the remote cause may make a simultaneous attack on 
more than one organ, or part of the system. 

No one writer has been able to ascertain the proximate 
cause of cholera, either by inferences drawn from the symp- 
toms, or from appearances after death. It is gratifying to 
know that some light has been thrown on the subject, by 
which favorable practical results are obtained. That the ner- 
vous system generally, and the ganglionic and spinal nerves, 
and the spinal medula itself, are affected, is manifest from 
many symptoms; but whether this affection arises from a 



CHOLERA. 103 

direct impression of the remote cause of the disease on these 
organs, or from irritation propagated from the alimentary 
canal, along the ganglionic nerves to the spine, we are igno- 
rant. Is the dark appearance of the blood to be explained by 
the feebleness of the action of the right ventricle, as a con- 
sequence of which little blood is transmitted through the 
lungs, and exposed to the influence of the air? According 
to this view, which is suggested with diffidence, the imperfec- 
tion of the respiratory process, will arise from the same cause 
as in congenital malformation of the heart, such as the per- 
sistence after birth, of the foramen ovale, or the aorta arising 
from both ventricles, in which a very small proportion of the 
whole mass of blood is oxidized. This hypothesis explains 
readily the dark appearance of the blood, its accumulation in 
the great veins of the viscera, the coldness and lividity of 
the skin, and the imperfection of the respiratory process, 
which has been so ably illustrated by Doctor Davy. This 
gentleman was the first to show that the air expired by pa- 
tients in the choleric stage, is colder, and contains less than 
the usual portion of the carbonic acid; and that this is the 
case, when the breathing is full, free, and rapid. The thick- 
ened consistence of the blood receives a ready explanation, 
from the loss of its serous part, by the abundant discharge 
from the inner intestinal surface. There are two morbid con- 
ditions of the lining of the digestive canal. In one it is in 
a manifest state of inflammation; in the other it is white and 
pulpy, and easily detached from the subjacent coat. The 
affection of the alimentary canal is essential and primary, if 
any part of the disease is so; and it were vain to attempt 
to trace it to a morbid condition of any other organ or sys- 
tem of organs. The general suspension of secretion, which 
is complete only when the collapse is extreme, appears to re- 
sult from the disorder of those systems, the nervous and vas- 
cular, on which this important function depends. That the 
whole series of the phenomena results from the action of a 
morbific poison on the body, there can be no doubt; but, as 
in the case of fever, we are yet ignorant of the precise nature 



104 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

of the primary change effected by it in various organs or sys- 
tems; and it is to be feared that, till more accurate ideas are 
attained, respecting the pathology of fever in general, this 
ignorance will remain. In the febrile stages, there are by no 
means, equivocal indications of inflammation of the brain, 
and occasionally of other organs, the analogy to fevers in 
general, being in this respect preserved. Many cases report* 
ed from abroad, lead to the opinion that the nervous system 
is primarily affected. 

8th. Proportionate Mortality. — The mortality during the 
early prevalence of the epidemic in India, in 1817 and 1818, 
was very great; but, either from the abatement of the inten- 
sity of the disease, or from the improvement of the treat- 
ment by our medical men, or, as is most probable, from the 
co-operation of both these circumstances, it was subsequently 
very much reduced. There is no disease in w T hich unassisted 
nature seems more powerless than in this. We learn from 
the medical report at Bombay, that there is reason to believe 
that, of 1294 cases which received no medical assistance, every 
individual perished. From this appalling statement, it is gra- 
tifying to humanity to turn to the following records. Ac- 
cording to the documents collected by the medical board at 
Madras, the nubemr of deaths caused by it in the army of 
that presidency, during 1818, was 4430, of which 695 oc- 
curred among the European troops, and 3735 among the 
Sepoys. The number attacked was 19,494 — namely, 3664 
Europeans, and 15,830 natives. The average strength of the 
army, during the period included in the report, being 10,112 
Europeans, and 73,254 natives, it follows that, in five years, 
twenty -three and a third per cent, of the troops were attack- 
ed, and that of these twenty-two and three-fourths per cent, 
were carried off, or five and one-third per cent of the wmole 
force of the army. We hear, in different situations, of rates 
of mortality infinitely lower than this. In some stations, not 
more than one in a hundred proved mortal, of those who 
were early succored. 



CHOLERA. 105 

In our observations on the treatment, we shall follow the 
natural subdivisions adopted in describing the disease. 

I. TREATMENT OF THE INCIPIENT STAGES. 

We have adverted to two forms which this stage assumes. 
In the one there is some general uneasiness, nausea, and ver- 
tigo; in the other these affections may exist, with diarrhea, but 
the latter is frequently present, without the former being dis- 
cernable. The first of these forms — in which it may be re- 
marked, that medical aid is rarely applied to — requires that the 
stomach should be unloaded by an emetic, and a table-spoonful 
of mustard constitutes a very efficient one. A few ounces of 
blood should be drawn from a vein; a laxative of calomel and 
rhubard administered; and the patient restricted to a diluent 
diet, and kept within doors and warm. The treatment of the 
diarrheal form, to which, circumstances witnessed by us lead 
us to attach considerable importance, must be noticed more 
at length. It was mentioned that, in this diarrheal form of 
the incipient stage, the evacuations are at first found to be 
fcecal and bilious; but, at the time medical aid is summoned, 
they have generally assumed the serous character which they 
have in the choleric stage. A state of the system resembling, 
in some degree, collapse, it was observed, coincided with this 
condition of the alvine discharges. In this state, it was found 
very advantageous to give a dose of calomel, combined with 
a proportion of opium and some aromatic, and in twelve or 
fourteen hours afterwards, a dose of castor oil. On first visit- 
ing such a patient, a large blister was generally applied to the 
abdomen, in the cases under our care; warmth was enjoined 
— indeed, when compliance with our wishes could be en- 
forced, the patient was confined to bed — and it was directed 
that the diet should be diluent. The subsequent treatment 
consists in the employment of smaller doses of calomel and 
opium, for one or two successive nights, and a second dose of 
oleum vicini was sometimes administered. In certain local- 
ities, the writer has found the constitutional state accompany- 
ing this stage of the disease, to be one of marked excitement, 
14 



106 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

rather than of feebleness and collapse; and some points of the 
abdomen have been painful on pressure. In such cases, one 
general bleeding, or the very liberal application of leeches to 
the abdomen, has preceded the employment of other reme- 
dies. It should be remarked, however, that the choleric 
stage has supervened, as we have been informed, on diarrhea, 
which had been skillfully treated ; but our inquiries have uni- 
formly convinced us that, in such cases, medical aid had not 
been summoned till the diarrhea had existed sometime, and 
the subsequent stage was closely impending. 

II. TREATMENT OF THE COLD OR CHOLERIC STAGE . 

In order that we may be distinctly understood in our obser- 
vations on the mode of conducting this very important stage, 
we must adhere to its subdivisions into two periods. The 
first period is certainly that in which alone our most power- 
ful means of arresting morbid action, can be employed with a 
considerable prospect of success. It may be considered an 
axiom in medicine, that fevers, to be successfully must be 
early treated; and the rule has a powerful application to a 
disease so rapid in its course as that under consideration. But 
there are many obstacles to its being generally acted upon in 
a populous town; and one considerable obstacle, we appre- 
hend, will every where be found in the self deception which 
seems to be inspired by the disease. We have met with per- 
sons to whom, from their peculiar situation, all the symptoms 
of this disease were as familiarly known as to medical men; 
yet, when they were attacked with it, they did not or would 
not recognize it; and one such individual actually walked out 
with the disease upon him, and failed to send for assistance 
till eight hours after its invasion, though it was so severe as 
to destroy him in twelve. So strong is this tendency to self- 
deception, regarding the nature of the disease, when the chol- 
eric stage actually occurs, that, wherever cholera prevails, 
strong appeals to the public should be made on the necessity 
of early treatment of this stage, as well as due care of that 
which generally precedes it, 



CHOLERA. 107 

The first remedy to be considered is blood-letting; and we 
shall endeavor to point out the circumstances, which, so far as 
our observation extends, indicate, and those which forbid its 
employment. Its safe employment should be early, not ac- 
cording to mere time only, bat with respect to the rapidity of 
the disease; for one case may have made as considerable a ' 
progress towards actual collapse in two hours as another in 
ten; and we should regard a considerable degree of collapse 
indicated by feebleness or arrest of circulation, and percepti- 
ble in the intervals of pain and spasms, (for when these occur, 
the pulse often sinks instantly, though only a second before, 
it had been beating with consider if le vigor,) as an imperative 
reason for abstaining from drawing blood. But if we find 
the temperature not below, or but a little below, the healthy 
standard, a pulse of tolerable force, and strong spasms at short 
intervals, provided collapse have not preceded this favorable 
condition, we should at once open a vein, and not lose an op- 
portunity, which will never be restored, of probably prevent- 
ing extreme collapse, and either its immediate fatalit/, or its 
more remote, but scarcely less fearful evils. But should this 
condition, with respect to circulation and temperature, have 
succeeded to collapse, either spontaneously or by the adminis- 
tration of remedies, our experience would dictate that blood- 
letting should be carefully abstained from, as we have seen 
great injury produced, under such circumstances, by its em- 
ployment; cases having fallen under our notice in which the 
loss of three or four ounces of blood has destroyed the fruits 
of two or three hours assiduous labor. The difference in the 
effect of blood-letting on conditions apparently very analo- 
gous, but differing in the period, from the commencement of 
the attack at which they manifest themselves, cannot be too 
strongly impressed on the reader's attention. Perhaps the 
only difference in external character which can be discovered 
between the two states, will be the existence of spasms of 
considerable strength in the early period, whilst, in the more 
advanced, they have nearly, if not altogether, ceased; but in 
one case blood-letting breaks the morbid catenations, and pre- 



108 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

vents collapse and congestion; in the other it lowers the vital 
energies which are freeing themselves from a state of op- 
pression. But, again, in a more advanced stage, when the 
constitution is no longer balancing between collapse and fever, 
and the latter may be considered as established, bleeding is a 
suitable remedy, if the state of the circulation and the general 
condition of the patient render it admissible. Thus, then, 
there are three periods of the disease, at which according to 
our experience, blood-letting may be employed: occasionally 
in the incipient stage, as has already been stated, in the early 
part of the first period of the cold stage; and at the com- 
mencment of the feverish stage, under circumstances to be 
subsequently mentioned. We have been particular on this 
head, perhaps to prolixity, because we found great discrepancy 
in the testimony of various East Indian and continental au- 
thorities regarding it; and in the early part of our experience 
of the disease, the selection of the appropriate time for bleed- 
ing, and the circumstances which indicated or forbade it, con- 
stituted the great difficulty we had to encounter. The meas- 
ure to be adopted next in succession to blood-letting, will 
depend on the condition of the patient. If, in a short time 
after bleeding, we find a circulation of tolerable force, without 
much tendency to general or partial deficiency of heat, and if, 
at the same time, there be a pain in the epigastrium increased 
on pressure, (a very common accompaniment of cases in 
which the tendency to collapse is least conspicuous,) a large 
blister or sinapism to the abdomen will be suitable remedies. 
Should the circulation, on the other hand, be feeble, with 
general or partial deficiency of warmth, we should endeavor 
to rouse the system by full vomiting; and powdered mustard 
is a very proper means for accomplishing this object. Half 
an ounce of this substance, suspended in half an ordinary 
tumbler of warm water, may be considered a medium dose, 
and one which, in a great majority of instances, will act 
promptly and powerfully; but, in a more advanced stage of 
the disease, when collapse has been extreme, a whole ounce 
has been required to produce the full effect. After full vom- 



CHOLERA. 109 

king, sinapisms may be applied to the abdomen and along the 
spine; whilst the warmth of the patient is supported by bot- 
tles of hot water wrapped in flannel bags of hot oats, and 
other familiar methods of applying dry heat, directed to the 
extremities, or other points in which the temperature seems 
deficient. Friction of the parts affected with spasms will 
probably be required, and should be performed under the bed- 
clothes. The quantity of the liquid given at this period 
ought to depend on the condition of the patient; if, for in- 
stance, the tendency to collapse be considerable, a little weak 
brandy and water should be given at short intervals; but 
should the circulation be tolerably vigorous, and the tempera- 
ture good, simple diluents, such as toast and water, constitute 
the most suitable beverage. Should the patient be in a state 
of considerable collapse, whether in consequence of neglect 
of the earlier stage, or occurring, (which will occasionally 
prove to be the case,) in spite of the most diligent attention 
to it, blood-letting should not form part of the remedial agents 
selected. In the sinking stage of the disease, various stimu- 
lating remedies have been recommended. Whatever stimu- 
lant medicine be employed, we would advise that calomel in 
doses of five or six grains, repeated at intervals of three or 
four hours, be given at the same time, with the view of aiding 
the restoration of secretions; and with the intention of at 
once rousing the system, and lessening the irritability of the 
stomach ; and also that a large sinapism should be applied to 
the abdomen, and another along the course of the spine. The 
tobacco enema has been suggested by Mr. Baird of New- 
castle, and, as he assures us, employed with considerable suc- 
cess. Weak brandy and water may be given occasionally 
during the collapse; and we have observed no injurious effect, 
in this or any stage of the disease, from the ordinary diluent 
taken in moderate doses. 

III. TREATMENT OF THE EXCITED, OR FEBRILE STAGE. 

This division of the subject will not require so lengthened 
a discussion as the preceding, which may be considered as 



110 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

more exclusively belonging to this disease; for recognized 
principles, applicable to the treatment of pyrexia in general, 
must be our guides in treating this fever. The fever consti- 
tuting this stage, be it in essence what it may, has inflamma- 
tion accompanying it, of which the principal locations are the 
brain and lining of the digestive canal; and to the subduing 
of these, by such measures as the state of the system admits, 
our attention should be carefully directed. A form of fe- 
ver has been described as supervening on an extreme and 
long-continued collapse in the cold stage, and in which it 
was mentioned that the vascular action was low and feeble, 
the temperature of the surface under the healthy standard, 
and the description of warmth very partial. A degree of 
irritability of the stomach, with occasional vomiting, is a very 
frequent accompaniment of such a case, for two or three days; 
and, under such circumstances, leeches, and subsequently a 
blister to the epigastrium, have been resorted to. Of internal 
remedies, calomel is the most to be relied on, from its effects 
on the secretions, particularly of the intestinal canal, and from 
its facilitating the laxatives which the state of the brain ren- 
ders advisable to administer. Simultaneously with this, atten- 
tion should be paid to keeping up the heat of the cold parts 
of the body, by bottles of hot water wrapped in flannel. 
Even when relieving the system by bleeding, stimulants may 
be required, to keep up the action. The more excited form 
admits of one general bleeding with advantage, the amount of 
blood to be drawn being regulated by the various circum- 
stances which would govern in ordinary fever. Should the 
head, as it generally does, continue to be affected after blood- 
letting, leeches and cold applications should be resorted to, 
the former being repeated, if necessary, to such extent, and at 
such intervals, as the degree of headache, intellectual torpor, 
and vascular excitement, may seem to require. Laxative 
medicine should be administered; calomel at night, and castor 
oil in the morning. That kind of permanent fomentation, 
which is afforded by hot poultices on the abdomen, has been 
found benefieiah In most cases of high excitement, as well 



CHOLERA, 111 

as the lowest form of the disease, in which the collapse of the 
cold, seems prolonged through the febrile stage, it is advisable 
to counteract, by warmth, applied to the extremities and other 
points, that tendency to irregular distribution of blood, which 
forms so striking a feature of the disease. 

As to the Proximate Cause, or Pathological Inception 
of Cholera. — On this subject, similar diversities of opinion 
prevail, among the physicians of this country, to those we 
have already noticed among the profession in other parts of 
the w T orld. Some suppose the unknown poisonous influence 
to make its first morbid impression on the mucus membrane 
of the stomach and bowels; others, that the nervous texture, 
in general, or the ganglionic system, specially, is the first to 
feel its baleful operation; others, that a failure of the active 
powers of the heart and blood-vessels take the lead in this 
unmanageable train of marked actions; others, that the fluid 
they contain, becoming decomposed or deteriorated, occasions 
all the formidable symptoms of the disease; and lastly, there 
are those who believe that the proximate cause of cholera as- 
phyxia consists in a simultaneous modification of all the or- 
ganic powers and functions, the poison acting either directly 
on the properties of the several textures, or indirectly through 
the nervous system. Which of these speculations has the 
advantage, either in the number or respectability of those who 
entertain it, we are unable to determine. 

Many of the agents adopted, as laid down in the foregoing 
article, for the treatment of cholera, are such as we would 
recommend, as accordant with our mode of treating this dis- 
ease. But so far as depletions, leeches, epispastics, and calo- 
mel, are concerned, we are enabled, by the application of our 
remedies, to dispense with them. By giving action to the 
blood, we avoid the danger (a danger which is admitted) that 
sometimes attends blood-letting, and also the prostration of 
the patient, which is the necessary result of that practice. 
Our agents, which are intended to give action to the system 
generally, are more ready and certain in their operation, than 
calomel, and dispatch and certainty are objects of vital im- 



112 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

portance in contending with a disease so swift as this. The 
fact that all our external remedies determine the disease to 
the surface of the body, more readily and more successfully 
than blistering, will recommend them in preference thereto. 
The powerful effects of a combination of concentrated stimu- 
lants, tonics, diaphoretics, and anti-spasmodics, of which our 
remedies are composed, and which enter every part of the 
body at the same time, in cases of cholera, need no argument 
to induce every reflecting man of science to give them a can- 
did consideration, and we feel justified by experience, in say- 
ing, that we doubt not that, with as many as shall make a 
thorough, persevering trial of them, the continuance of their 
application in all cases of cholera, will be the certain conse- 
quence. Though the disease is of a character which is more 
terrific than any which has ever afflicted our race; has spread 
abroad desolation and alarm in their most direful forms; has 
frightened husbands from the bed of their dying companions, 
and from the terror created, has been a fruitful cause of pro- 
ducing attacks on the subjects of its alarm; though all such 
have been its sad consequences, and will so continue to be 
until it shall be known and believed that an antidote is dis- 
covered, which w r ill arrest its march of death; it is our plea- 
sure to state, with the fullest confidence, established from 
actual experience, that our remedies are abundantly com- 
petent to arrest the disease, in all its forms. 

In many respects, we treat the cholera as we do congestive 
fever, though not entirely so. Let the patient be rubbed over 
the whole body (with the least possible delay) with our Fe- 
ver Liniment; prepare plasters of the same, and bind them on 
the bowels, breast, wrists, and ankles, repeating the rubbing 
of the other portions of the body with the Liniment, and 
prepare hot bricks to lay at the feet and sides, to promote 
perspiration; administer an injection of our Pectoral Tinc- 
ture, at the same time give an emetic of the same, in tea- 
spoonful doses every five minutes, and if vomiting does not 
take place in fifteen minutes, double the dose; still continue 
the rubbing on of the Liniment: while this is going on, let 



PLAGUE. 113 

some one prepare a mustard poultice, to be placed over the 
plasters on the breast and bowels, which will accelerate the 
absorption of the Liniment: after vomiting, give tea-spoonful 
doses of the Diaphoretic Drops, and (apply the Liniment 
freely on the whole length of the spine, with much friction,) 
then the tincture of gum myrrh. If the stomach remain 
sick after vomiting freely, drink liberally of strong pepper- 
mint or spearmint tea. These measures, persevered in, will 
soon cause a reaction in the system; the spasms will subside, 
all the symptoms will be removed, and the patient's recovery 
will generally be as sudden as was his prostration. We have 
the evidence of a number of desperate cases having been sud- 
denly overcome by some of these means, and not a single 
failure has come to our knowledge. 

PLAGUE. 

This is a disease characterized by a contagious typhus, en- 
tire prostration of strength, and by certain local symptoms, 
as buboes, carbuncles, livid spots, {petechise.) The latter are, 
in this connection, the peculiar characteristics of the plague, 
since the former also appear in other malignant diseases. In 
the beginning, the patient generally experiences great mental 
dejection, and corporal debility; slight chills, alternating with 
heats, which are afterwards succeeded by a burning heat with- 
in, and a heaviness about the head; then follows stupor; the 
eyes are glaring, glazed, or wild and sparkling; the face ap- 
pears whitish and livid; and the patient is melancholy, morose 
and anxious, faint and delirious. In many cases nausea and 
vomiting occur. The thirst is unquenchable, the tongue is 
reddish or yellowish, the speech indistinct In the progress 
of the disease, the face often becomes red, the perspiration 
quick and uneasy, and bilious, green, or bloody and black 
matter is vomited. The delirium often becomes mild; the 
urine is sometimes turbid, black, whitish, or bloody; and 
hemorrhages take place, when death does not immediately 
ensue. Buboes appear in the groins, the arm pits, the paro- 
15 



ii4 



DISEASE AND Its treatment, 



tids, and other places, with carbuncles, or small, yellowish 
black spots, over the whole body. The fear, anxiety, and 
despair, which seize the patient on the first appearance of 
the plague, increase the danger of the disease. Death, in 
many cases, takes place on the first day, and frequently in a 
few hours after the attack, but sometimes not till the second 
or third day. It is considered favorable if the buboes and 
carbuncles appear at the same time, are very numerous, and 
terminate in suppuration. They either terminate in suppura- 
tion, or become indurated, are healed or cut out. 

In regard to the origin of the plague, and the manner in 
which it is communicated, very different opinions have been 
entertained, according to the state of medical science. In 
early times, when calamitous events, the causes of which 
were not understood, were attributed to spirits and demons, 
the plague was ascribed to their influence. At a later period, 
it was accounted for by changes in the air, poisonous vapors 
which descended from the atmosphere, or to clouds of insects 
which were received into the body, by inspiration, or in the 
food, or by absorption through the skin, and thus corrupted 
the blood. Physicians, according to the tendency of their 
theories, found the cause in the excess of sulphureous matter 
in the blood, or in its coagulation, or resolution, etc. Many 
have considered it as not contagious, but at present there is a 
very general conviction of its contagious character. 

The plague is a specific disease, and can originate of itself 
only in certain countries. Hot weather, bad air and food, 
and filthiness, favor its production and propagation. The 
nature of the disease seems to exist in a diminution of vital 
energy, which may be so rapid and universal, that the com- 
ponent parts of the system, particularly the blood, lose their 
natural properties, and become corrupted, and life is destroyed 
before the nervous system is able to counteract the effects. 
When the progress of the disease is not so rapid, the vital 
energy which remains, is exhausted by febrile excitements, 
and local inflammation. Dissections have shown collections 
of coagulated or decomposed fluid, black blood, inflammations 



PLAGUE. 115 

of large portions of the skin, and carbuncles in great num- 
bers. The buboes discharge an offensive matter, and extend 
far inward. The carbuncles, which precede the approach of 
death, and which contain mortified parts, also generally reach 
deeply inwards. When nature possesses sufficient vigor, the 
inflammations are on the skin, rather than in the interior. 
The buboes soon terminate in suppuration, and the carbuncles, 
when cut, discharge a less corrupt matter, and fall off. The 
fever is carried off by a violent sweat, the recovery is slow. 
When the disease is completely developed, it is contagious; 
to this is owing the terrible devastations which it causes. 

There is but little doubt the plague appeared iri the most 
ancient times, particularly where a numerous population was 
collected together in warm climates; but we must not consider 
every disease a plague, which has been called so by historians, 
as they often mean by the term nothing more than a malig- 
nant disorder, prevailing over a considerable extent of coun- 
try. Among the most famous instances, is the plague descri- 
bed, in so masterly a manner, by Thucydides, which, in 
the third year of the Peloponnesian war, (430 B. C.) ravaged 
Athens, then besieged by the Spartans. A large number of 
the inhabitants of Attica had fled into the city ; fear, anxiety r , 
want or badness of provisions, and the corruption of the air, 
caused by the crowded state of the population, produced and 
propagated the plague in the city. Death generally ensued 
after the seventh or ninth day. The plague in Jerusalem 
(A. D. 72,) when it was besieged by the Romans, is described 
by Josephus. In Rome, the plague prevailed (A. D. 77) in 
the reign of Vespasian; of Marcus Aurelius (170,) when it 
raged over almost all Europe and Asia; of Commodus (189,) 
and particularly of Gallienus, (in 26,2,) when five thousand per- 
sons are said to have died daily in Rome. From that time, 
it continued occasionally to prevail in Italy, Greece, Asia, 
and Africa, and raged particularly in the populous cities, for 
instance in Constantinople, in the reign of Justinian, (in 544,) 
when one thousand grave diggers were said to have been in- 
sufficient for the interment of the dead. This plague con- 



116 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

tinued its ravages for fifty years, with but short intervals. In 
565, it appeared under the name of pcstis inguinana in 
Treves, and in 588 at Marseilles. In the seventh century it 
appeared in Saxony. In 823 it prevailed all over Germany; 
and from 875 to 877, was particularly malignant in Saxony 
and Misnia, as was also the case in 964. In the eleventh 
century it broke out in Germany at least six times, mostly 
after or during the famine, and raged with so much violence 
it was believed that all mankind was doomed to be swept away 
by it. This unfortunate belief prevented the taking of effec- 
tual means to check it; and apathy in suffering was consider- 
ed an act of piety. In some cases, however, the Jews were 
suspected of having poisoned the wells, as in our own time, 
the Hungarian peasantry suspected the nobility, when the 
cholera morbus swept away so many of the poorer clases. In 
fact, the ignorant of all ages have been inclined to ascribe 
general and far spreading diseases, whose causes are unknown 
or disbelieved in by them, to poisoned wells. Thus, the 
writer recollects, that when the ophthalmia broke out in the 
Prussian army in 1813, many believed that the French had 
poisoned the wells. Similar notions were entertained by 
many French soldiers, during the plague which swept them 
off in Egypt. In the twelfth century, the plague prevailed in 
Germany about twenty-five years. In the thirteenth century 
it was brought into Europe by the Crusaders. From 1347 
to 1350, it traversed all Europe, and was then called the black 
death. Since that time it has never ravaged with so much 
violence. Boccaccio, in the introduction of his Decameron, 
has given a lively description of its physical and moral effects 
in Florence, in 1348. In the latter half of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, it raged in all Europe, and was accompanied by the 
most terrible sufferings. The historians of that time give the 
most horrible picture of distress. In the sixteenth century 
the plague again raged, and in 1563 was again introduced into 
England, by the return of an English army from the conti- 
nent. At the same time the sweating sickness prevailed on 
the continent, which had been imported from England, to- 



PLAGUE. 117 

wards the close of the fifteenth century. It was called in 
Germany, the English sweat, and spread from the seaports, 
over Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Italy. Though 
some means were already taken against the plague, for in- 
stance, the establishment of lazarettos, yet it raged in Europe 
during the seventeenth century. In 1603, 1625, 1636, and 
1665, it made great ravages in England. As the plague 
never ceases in the East, in Greece, and in European and 
Asiatic Turkey, it has continually been introduced by vessels, 
into the ports of Italy and France; and has also been propa- 
gated in Western Europe, through Hungary, Poland, and 
Transylvania. The quarantine rules have not, in general, 
been stictly observed, and as late as 1720, a Levantine vessel 
imported the plague into Marseilles, which soon spread all 
over Provence. In 1795 and 1796, it extended over the 
countries into the Turkish frontiers, but was checked by the 
skill of the physicians. It broke out in 1816, at Noia, a 
town in the Neapolitan territories. 

The ancients endeavored to avert the plague by sacrifices, 
the christians by processions and prayers. The ancient phy- 
sicians tried several modes of treatment; among them, sweat- 
ing. The researches of modern physicians have given us a 
greater insight into the nature of disease, and of its remedies, 
than were possessed formerly, when want of courage was 
quite as fatal as want of knowledge. Precautions against 
contagion, and when that has once occurred, the speedy ex- 
pulsion of the poison from the system, the diminution of the 
internal inflammation, the preservation of the vigor of the 
arterial blood, the strengthening of the nerves, the promotion 
of suppuration, the seasonable resolution of the carbuncles, are 
the main points of the treatment. Baldwin, English Consul Gen- 
eral at Alexandria, recommended (1795) oil friction, which has 
been tried with success. Having observed that oil-porters were 
never attacked, he concluded that olive oil was a preservative 
against the plague, and his expectations were surpassed by the 
favorable results of his process. As soon as any symptom 
of the plague is discovered, the body of the patient is quickly 



118 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

and vigorously rubbed with warm oil, and he is put to bed. 
This application is followed by a profuse sweat, which is pro- 
moted by alder tea. The friction is repeated, once or twice 
a day, until a violent sweat is produced. If there are buboes, 
they must be frequently rubbed with oil, until suppuration 
follows. Doctor Madden, in the work already quoted, gives 
the following as the results of his experience, both in regard 
to the nature of the disease, and the treatment of it: "I have 
given plague the name of typhus gravissimus. The symp- 
toms, from the first, are, general debility, congestion about 
the heart, not depending upon inflammation, but upon the 
putrescent state of the circulation. It differs little from pu- 
trid typhus, except in its duration and eruptions. In every 
stage of plague, nature appears to be prostrate under the in- 
fluence of the poisonous miasma; and when the patient sinks 
at last, it is from the want of force in the constitution to drive 
out the eruptions on the surface. The bubo recedes, or the 
carbuncle diminishes, or neither appear at all externally; but 
they have seized on the internal vital organs, and the imme- 
diate cause of death has been shown by dissection to have 
been carbuncles on the liver, lungs, spleen, or mesenteric 
glands: in short, it appears that the whole glandular system 
is the seat of the disease. I have seen all the different spe- 
cies of plague enumerated by Russel and the French authors, 
and I have no hesitation in pronouncing all these different 
species of plague to be the symptoms of one class only: and 
I assert there is but one indication to fulfill; namely, to assist 
nature to expel the poison, by strengthening the exhausted 
powers of the constitution, and enabling it to throw out the 
morbific matter. By what means is this to be done? — whether 
by emetics, by purgatives, by bleeding, by calomel, by mer- 
curial unction, or by oil friction? There are none of these 
means I have not tried, and out of the first eleven patients I 
so treated, I lost nine. I had recourse to another mode of 
cure; strong stimulants, diffusible and permanent, I now tried. 
I commenced with wine and brandy, the first moment I saw 
the patient, whether the eye was suffused, the cheek flushed, 



PLAGUE. 119 

and the skin arid, or the low delirium set in, or not. 1 ad- 
ministered it in the following manner: The first dose was a 
tumbler of hot brandy and water, about one-third spirit. This 
sometimes was vomited, and again repeated; the second time 
it usually remained on the stomach, and in the course of two 
hours, it generally produced perspiration, even after James' 
powder had failed. Two or three hours after the first dose, 
another was administered, and the patient would feel less of 
the burning pain at the heart. If vomiting supervened, it 
was again repeated, and during the day it was now given 
every four or six hours, according to circumstances. The 
buboes commonly increased in size, and profuse sweating was 
often followed by petechise, or livid spots on the chest: when 
I saw this, I was always sure of my patient. The second day, 
I increased the strength of the dose; instead of one-third 
spirit, I gave one-half, every eight hours; no intoxication 
came on, but a lethargic drowsiness was common enough, 
continuing till the perspiration broke out, or carbuncles ap- 
peared externally. If on the third day the patient was de- 
cidedly better, I kept up the excitement by strong Cyprus 
wine, in frequent but small doses of two table-spoonsful every 
two hours; but if the bad symptoms were unabated, I con- 
tinued to give the hot brandy and water, in increased quanti- 
ties, till some decided change took place. This active treat- 
ment it was seldom necessary to pursue beyond the sixth day; 
indeed, in plague, if the patient live till the sixth day, he is 
likely to recover; but the third day is that which is most to 
be feared. The only other treatment, was once or twice 
opening the bowels with enemas, for purgatives by the mouth 
do no service, and sponging the body frequently with vine- 
gar and water; the head was constantly kept soaked with 
towels dipped in vinegar, and the buboes were poulticed with 
very hot cataplasms, sufficiently hot to give pain, and they 
were allowed to burst spontaneously. With this treatment, 
at the rate of seventy-five per cent, recovered. In Candia, 
of nine patients, five patients recovered, and some of these 
were almost hopeless cases when I began to treat them. 



120 DISEASE AN1> ITS TKEATMENT. 

Every thing in plague, of course, depends on early treatment; 
for, in a disease which commonly runs its course in three 
days, there is no time to be lost." 

Remark. — In tracing the history of the plague, it appears 
that for a long time physicians were unable to adopt a treat- 
ment which proved successful, or which in any manner ar- 
rested the disease; and not until 1795 was the external ap- 
plication of sweet oil discovered to be competent to accom- 
plish that object. After this discovery, it was found that 
stimulants and diaphoretics would cause a free perspiration, 
and throw off the morbific matter; and by a persevering course 
of this treatment, vast numbers of those who were attacked 
with the plague were saved. It was further ascertained, that 
the great variety which physicians had supposed to exist in 
this disorder, and which had caused so much indecision in 
the treatment of it, was nothing more than the various symp- 
toms of the same complaint. It is hardly possible to produce 
stronger evidence of the superiority of our system for the 
treatment of disease, than is here contained. 



AGUE. 

Ague is a disorder belonging to the class of intermittent 
fevers. It may be followed by serious consequences, but, 
generally, it is more troublesome than dangerous, and is some- 
times even considered salutary. According to the length of 
the apyrexia, or intermission between one febrile paroxysm 
and another, agues are denominated quotidians, tertians or 
quartans-, which latter, are much the most obstinate, being 
generally attended with a greater degree of visceral obstruc- 
tion than those, the attacks of which return at shorter inter- 
vals. The quartan ague is apt to terminate in dropsy. An 
ague paroxysm has been divided into the cold, the hot, and 
the sweating stages. The feeling of extreme cold, in the first 
stage, cannot be prevented by fire, or the heat of summer. 
Generally, after the sweating stages, in which there is a pro- 



AGUE. 121 

fuse exhalation from the pores of the skin with a flow of urine, 
depositing a copious sediment, of a lateritious or brick-dust 
appearance, the patient falls into a refreshing sleep, from 
which he awakes without any remains of indisposition, except 
a slight degree of languor and debility. 

Agues occur chiefly in situations where there are shallow, 
stagnant waters. Hence their frequency in Holland, in the 
East and West Indies, in the flat, marshy parts of England, 
and the thinly settled parts of the United States, where they 
diminish with the clearing of the woods and the draining of 
the lands. The neighborhood of rivers or marshes, therefore, 
is carefully to be avoided by persons afflicted with agues. 
They are cured by medicines, which, at the same time that 
they exert a tonic influence, produce and keep up an impres- 
sion upon the system greater than that communicated by the 
cause of the disease. 

Ague Cake is a hard tumor on the left side of the belly, 
lower than the false ribs, and said to be the effect of intermit- 
tent fever. 

TREATMENT. 

A partial description is given of the treatment of this com- 
plaint in another part of this work. We will here observe, 
that a knowledge of the time of a returning paroxysm being 
almost certain, the patient may uniformly avoid it by the fol- 
lowing treatment, viz: Some time previous to the return of 
the cold stage, let the patient take his bed; apply our Fever 
Liniment over the whole body, at the same time take a half 
tea-spoonful of Diaphoretic Drops, once in ten or twenty 
minutes; place warm bricks to the feet and sides, when a per- 
spiration will break out: then keep up this perspiration by 
warm herb tea for two hours; afterwards wash off the body 
and then again apply the Liniment; put on clean dry under- 
clothes — and seldom if ever will it be necessary to have re- 
course to this treatment a second time. There is another 
advantage gained by this course: the disease is not so likely 
16 



122 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

to supervene as it otherwise would be, or if the sweating pro- 
cess was to be dispensed with. An ague cake is uniformly 
removed by applying a plaster of the same Liniment on the 
side, and taking plentifully of the Diaphoretic Drops. 



CHAP. III. 

PHTHISIS, OR PULMONARY CONSUMPTION. 

This disease is more frequently found in cold climates than 
in warm. The causes which predispose to it, are very nu- 
merous. The following are, however the most general: — 
Hereditary disposition; peculiar formation of the body, obvi- 
ous by a long neck, prominent shoulders, and narrow chest; 
scrofulous diathesis, indicated by a fine clear skin, fair hair, 
delicate rosy complexion, large veins, thick upper lip, a weak 
voice, and great sensibility; certain diseases, such as syphilis, 
scrofula, small pox, and measles; particular employments, 
exposing artificers to dust, such as needle pointers, stone cut- 
ters, millers, etc., or to the fumes of metals or minerals under 
a confined or unwholesome air; violent passions; agitation of 
mental affections, as grief, disappointment, anxiety, or close 
application to study without proper exercise; frequent and 
excessive debaucheries; late watching; drinking of strong 
liquors; great evacuations, as diarrheas, diabetes, excessive 
venery, fluor albus, immoderate discharge of the menstrual 
flux; the continuing to suckle too long under the debilitating 
state; and, lastly, the application of cold, either by a too sud- 
den change of apparel, keeping on wet clothes, lying in damp 
beds, or exposing the body too suddenly to cool air, when 
heated by exercise; in short, anything that gives considerable 
check to perspiration. The more immediate or occasional 
causes of phthisis, are hemoptysis; inflammation in the lungs, 
proceeding to inflammatory tumors; catarrh; asthma; and tu- 
bercles, or swelling knots; the last by far the most general. 

The incipient symptoms usually vary with the cause of the 
disease, but when it arises from tubercles, it is thus marked : 
It begins with a short, dry cough, that at length becomes ha- 



124 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

bitual, but from which nothing is spit up for some time, except 
a frothy mucus, that seems to proceed from the fauces. The 
breathing at the same time is somewhat impeded, and upon 
bodily exertion, is much hurried: a sense of straitness, with 
oppression at the chest, is experienced; the body gradually 
becomes leaner, and great, languor, with indolence, dejection 
of spirits, and loss of appetite, prevails. In this state, the 
patient frequently continues a considerable length of time, 
during which he is, however, more subject than usual, to slight 
colds, and upon one or other of these occasions, the cough 
becomes more troublesome and severe, particularly by night, 
and is at length attended with an expectoration which, towards 
morning, is more free and copious. By degrees, the matter 
which is expectorated becomes more viscid and opaque, and 
now assumes a greenish color and purulent appearance, being, 
on many occasions, streaked with blood. In some cases, a 
more severe degree of hemoptysis prevails, and the patient 
spits up a considerable quantity of florid, frothy blood. The 
breathing at length becomes more difficult, and the emaciation 
and weakness go on increasing. With these, the person be- 
gins to be sensible of pain in some part of the thorax or breast, 
which, however, is usually felt at first under the breast, palate 
or sternum, particularly on coughing, At a more advanced 
period of the disease, a pain is sometimes felt in one side, at 
times prevailing to so high a degree, as to prevent the person 
from lying on that side; but it more frequently happens that 
it is felt only on making a full inspiration, after coughing. 
Even where no pain is felt, it often happens that those who 
labor under consumption, cannot lie easily on one or the other 
of their sides, without a fit of coughing being excited, or the 
difficulty of breathing being much increased. At the first 
manifestation of the disease, the pulse is often natural, or per- 
haps is soft, small, and a little quicker than usual; but when 
the symptoms which have been enumerated, have subsisted 
for any length of time, it then becomes full, hard, and fre- 
quent. At the same time, the face flushes, particularly after 
eating; the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet, are 



PULMONARY CONSUMPTION. 125 

affected with burning heat: the respiration is difficult and la- 
borious. At evening the symptoms increase; and by degrees 
the fever assumes a hectic form. This species of fever is 
evidently of the remittent kind, and increases in symptoms 
twice every day. The first occurs usually about noon, and a 
slight remission ensues about five in the afternoon. This last, 
however, is soon succeeded by another symptom, which in- 
creases gradually until after midnight; but about two o'clock 
in the morning, a remission takes place, and becomes more 
apparent, as the morning advances. During the exacerba- 
tions, or increase of symptoms, the patient is very suscepti- 
ble to any coolness of the air, and often complains of a sense 
of cold, when the skin is, at the same time, preternaturally 
warm. In the evening, these exacerbations are by far the 
most considerable. From the first appearance of the hectic 
symptoms, the urine is highly colored, and deposits a copious, 
branny, red sediment. The appetite, however, is not greatly 
impaired; the tongue appears clean; the mouth is usually 
moist; and the thirst is inconsiderable. As the disease ad- 
vances, the fauces put on rather an inflamed appearance, and 
are beset with aphtha, or sore mouth, and with small, white 
ulcers on the tongue, gums, and throat, resembling small par- 
ticles of curdled milk, and the red vessels of the tunica adnata, 
or white of the eye, become of a pearly white. During the 
exacerbations, a florid, circumscribed redness appears on each 
cheek; but at other times, the countenance is pale, and some- 
what dejected. At the commencement of hectic fever, the 
person affected is usually costive; but in a more advanced 
stage, a diarrhea often comes on, and this continues frequently 
to recur during the remainder of the disease. Colliquative, 
or severe sweats, likewise break out, and these alternate with 
each other, and induce exceedingly great debility. In the 
last stage of the disease, the emaciation is so great, that the 
patient has the appearance of a walking skeleton; his counte- 
nance is altered, and his cheeks are prominent, his eyes look 
hollow and languid, his hair falls off, his nails are of a livid 
color, and much incurvated, and his feet are swollen. To 



126 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

the end of the disease, the senses remain entire, and the mind 
is tranquil, and fall of hope. It is, indeed, a happy circum- 
stance attendant on phthisis, or consumption, that those who 
labor under it, are seldom apprehensive or aware of danger: 
and it is no uncommon occurrence to meet with persons la- 
boring under its most advanced stage, flattering themselves 
with a speedy recovery, and forming distant projects under 
that vain hope. Some days before death, the extremes be- 
come cold. In some cases, a delirium precedes that event, 
and continues until life is extinguished. 

As an expectoration of mucus from the lungs may possibly 
be mistaken for purulent matter, and may thereby give us 
reason to suspect that the patient labors under phthisis, or 
consumption, it may not be amiss to point out a sure criterion 
by which we shall always be able to distinguish the one from 
the other. The medical world are indebted for the discovery 
to the late Mr. Charles Darwin, who has directed the experi- 
ment to be made in the following manner: Let the expecto- 
rated matter be dissolved in vitriolic acid, and in caustic lixi- 
vium, and add pure water to both solutions. If there is a 
fair precipitation in each, it is a certain sign of pus; but if 
there is not a precipitate in either, it is certainly mucus. Sir 
Everard Home, in his dissertation on the properties of pus, 
and the means of distinguishing accurately between pus and 
animal matter, asserts, that the property which characterizes 
pus, and distinguishes it from most other substances, is, its 
being composed of globules, or round particles, which are 
visible when viewed through a microscope; whereas animal 
mucus, and all chimical combinations of animal substances, 
appear in the microscope to be made up of flakes: this pro- 
perty was first noticed by the late Mr. John Hunter. Pul- 
monary consumption is, in every case, to be considered as 
attended with much danger; but it is more so when it proceeds 
from tubercles, or round, corrupted pimples, than when it 
arises in consequence either of hemoptysis, or pneumonic 
suppuration, (inflammation in the lungs, and inflamed mucus 
deposited in the lungs). In the last instance, the risk will be 



PULMONARY CONSUMPTION. 127 

greater, where the abscess breaks inwardly, and gives rise to 
empyema, or pus in the thorax, than where its contents are 
discharged by the mouth. Even cases of this nature have, 
however, been known to terminate in immediate death. The 
impending danger is generally to be judged of, however, by 
the hectic symptoms; but more particularly by the fetor of 
the expectoration, the degree of emaciation and debility, the 
extreme sweats, and the diarrhea. The disease has, in many 
cases, been found to be considerably retarded in its progress 
by pregnancy; and in a few instances, it has been alleviated 
by an attack of mania, or madness. The morbid appearance 
most frequently to be met with, on the dissection of those 
who die of phthisis, or consumption, is that of tubercles in 
the cellular substance of the lungs. These are small tumors, 
which have the appearance of indurated glands. They are of 
different sizes, and are often found in clusters. Their firmness 
is in proportion to their size; and when laid open in this state, 
they are often of a white color, and of a consistence nearly 
approaching to cartilage. Although tranquil at first, they at 
length become inflamed, forming little abscesses, or vomicae, 
in the lungs, which, breaking and pouring their contents into 
the bronchia, or throat, give rise to purulent expectoration, 
and thus lay the foundation of phthisis, or consumption. Such 
tubercles, or matter, are most usually situated at the upper, 
and back part of the lungs; but in some instances, they occu- 
py the outer part, and then adhesions to the pleura are often 
formed. When the disease is partial, only about a fourth of 
the upper and posterior part of the lungs, is usually found 
diseased; but in some cases, life has been protracted till not 
one-twentieth part appeared, on dissection, fit for performing 
their functions. A singular observation, confirmed by the 
marked collections of anatomists, is, that the left lobe is much 
oftener affected than the right. 

The indications are, first, to moderate inflammatory action; 
second, to support the strength, and promote the healing of 
the lungs; third, to palliate urgent symptoms. 



128 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

To effect the objects just mentioned, our system is alto- 
gether new; the principles upon which it is based having been 
adopted, heretofore, only in part. We reach the diseased or- 
gans through the medium of cutaneous absorption — depend- 
ing principally upon the sanative powers of our external 
agents; and from demonstration, we hazard nothing in saying, 
that we can prepare nearly all remedial agents, and introduce 
them into the system through this medium, so as to produce 
the desired effect, much more readily than by the common 
mode of exhibiting through the stomach. With this we also 
combine the desideratum of releasing the internal organs 
from the great action, necessary to be undergone, by medi- 
cines passing the digestive function, which all grant is most 
grateful to the enfeebled state of the patient. In all pectoral 
diseases, or complaints of the chest, we are opposed to the 
giving of strong medicines internally, at least in large doses, 
often repeated, for the reason already stated, that in a healthy 
state, all the energies of the stomach are called forth to per- 
form their office; hence their inability to perform digestion 
when enfeebled. In all its stages, we have been enabled to 
discover the most decided advantage by the use of our reme- 
dies. They excite the torpid organs to action, impart a most 
efficient tonic to the worn out and enfeebled patient, while 
they allay inflammation, and enable a free and gentle expec- 
toration; readily removing the obstructed matter, and leaving 
the patient in a state of tranquillity. From experience and 
observation for some time past, we are led to fix upon the fol- 
lowing mode of 

TREATMENT. 

In cases where the lungs are inflamed only, and the patient 
has not for a great length of time been subject to a cough, 
relief may be granted by applying our Cough Liniment to 
the side, and between the shoulders, two or three times a 
day; at the same time taking the Vegetable Syrup, or if that 
be not at hand, take from four to twelve drops of the Pecto- 



PULMONARY CONSUMPTION. 129 

ral Tincture three times a day, and at night apply plasters 
spread with the Liniment, and a warm brick to the bottoms of 
the feet, and take some warm herb tea to cause free perspira- 
tion; at the same time, Tonic Bitters may be taken two or 
three times a day, to sustain the strength of the patient. In 
more advanced stages, where the patient shall have been af- 
flicted with a light cough a long time, pains in the breast, sides, 
and shoulder blades, hemiplegia, and emaciation, with evident 
symptoms of the lungs having become ulcerated, a more ela- 
borate course ought to be pursued — the Liniment should be 
worn on plasters, applied to the breast, back, and on the bot- 
toms of the feet, renewed twice a day. If the system has 
become very impure, this will cause small pustules to appear 
on the surface in two or three days, which will discharge 
virulent pus. The parts should be washed with warm Castile 
soap suds at each dressing, and once in two or three days the 
patient should be washed entire, in warm soap suds, then in 
salt and water, make free use of the flesh brush, and apply the 
Liniment again. The Liniment should also be rubbed over 
the whole body, particularly the throat and spine. If the 
pustules become too sore for the Liniment to be borne on 
them, the Vegetable Cerate may be applied for a few dress- 
ings, and then the Liniment resumed. The Cough Syrup 
should be taken three times a day, in tea or table-spoonful 
doses, as the tickling sensation attending the cough may de- 
mand. The Pectoral Tincture must also be administered, in 
doses of from three to twelve drops, as occasion may require. 
This article is one of the best expectorants known; and when 
taken in large doses, excites nausea and vomiting — but we 
seldom find it necessary to produce this effect. If the patient 
has chronic wandering pains, an under dress of white silk is 
valuable to be worn. The diet should be light, exercise 
moderate, night and damp air avoided, and the feet kept 
warm. In cases of ulceration, this course will generally 
cause a discharge of matter in two or three days, sometimes 
by vomiting, and at other times by the intestinal canal. If 
port wine is agreeable to the patient, it may be taken in small 
17 



130 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

quantities. We have known some instances of sudden relief 
by the course here recommended. In such cases, it will be 
absolutely necessary for the patient to follow up the remedies, 
or at least to apply the Liniment for a considerable length of 
time, to confirm a cure. But if through the agency of exter- 
nal remedies, the morbific matter can be expelled from the 
system, the digestive organs restored to a healthy tone, and 
the whole functions of the body strengthened, there is much 
gained towards the restoration of health. These effects, it has 
appeared, we have been enabled to produce, principally, by 
our remedies externally applied ; for by the use of the Lini- 
ment on the stomach and bowels, we have frequently known 
a healthy state of both to take place, though not always with- 
out the aid of some medicine taken into the stomach. 

To aid in the relief of the cough, we sometimes prepare a 
Syrup in the following manner: Take two pounds of turnips, 
and slice them one-third of an inch thick; two pounds of loaf 
sugar, pulverized: place a layer of the turnips in a bake-oven, 
then a layer of the sugar, and so on alternately — then cover 
it tight and place it over a slow fire, for three hours; then 
strain it, and bottle for use. -Dose: one table-spoonful, three 
times a day. Covering the chest with a jacket of glazed 
cloth spread with the Liniment, as recommended in some 
other cases, has effected a cure in many instances when all 
other means had failed. 

It has been with much diffidence that we have published 
some of the results of experiments made w T ith our remedies 
in cases of consumption. We never have spoken confidently 
in this matter, until after we had treated a large number of 
cases, which had been given up by all orders of physicians as 
incurable. These favorable results, together with testimonials 
from almost every section of the United States, vouched by 
physicians, clergymen, and gentlemen, of undoubted veracity, 
have induced us to publish the most successful practice by 
which patients, laboring under pulmonary complaints, have 
been relieved. 



COUGH. 131 



COUGH, 



Is a deep inspiration of air, followed by a sudden, violent, 
and sonorous expiration, in a great measure involuntary, and 
excited by a sensation of the presence of some irritating cause 
in the lungs or windpipe. The organs of respiration are so 
constructed, that every forcing substance, except atmospheric 
air, offends them. The smallest drop of water, entering the 
windpipe, is sufficient to produce a violent coughing, by 
which the organs labor to expel the irritating substance. A 
similar effect is produced by inhaling smoke, dust, etc. The 
sudden expiration of air from the lungs, is produced by the 
violent contraction of the diaphragm, and the muscles of the 
breast and ribs. These parts are thus affected, by a sympathy 
with the organs of respiration, which sympathy springs from 
the connection of the nerves of the different parts. The sen- 
sation of obstruction or irritation, which gives rise to cough, 
though sometimes perceived in the chest, especially near the 
pit of the stomach, is most commonly confined to the tra- 
chea, or windpipe, and especially to its aperture in the throat, 
termed the glottis; yet this is seldom the seat of the irritat- 
ing cause, which is generally situated at some distance from 
it, and often in parts unconnected by structure or proximity, 
with the organs of respiration. Of the various irritations 
which give rise to cough, some occur within the cavity of the 
chest; others are external to that cavity; some exist even in 
the viscera of the pelvis. Of those causes of cough which 
take place within the chest, the disorders of the lungs them- 
selves are the most common, especially the inflammation of 
the mucous membranes, which excites the catarrhal cough, or 
common cold. This disease is generally considered unim- 
portant, particularly if there be no fever connected with it. 
But every cough, lasting longer than a fortnight or three 
weeks, is suspicious, and ought to be medically treated. An- 
other common cause of cough which has its seat in the lungs, 



132 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

is inflammation of those organs, whether in the form of pleu- 
risy or peripneumony. These diseases do not differ very 
essentially, except in violence and extent, from the acute 
catarrh, but are more dangerous, and more rapid in their pro- 
gress; and the constitution is excited to a highly febrile con- 
dition. Even after the acute state of inflammation may have 
subsided, a cough, attended with extreme danger, sometimes 
continues to be excited, by collections of pus, or abscesses, 
which ensue in the substance of the lungs, and either termin- 
ate in consumption, or suffocating the patient by suddenly 
bursting; more rarely the pus is discharged gradually from a 
small aperture, and the patient recovers. In such cases, the 
fever, originally acute, is converted into a hectic, with daily 
chills, succeeded by heat, and flushing of the face, night 
sweats, and emaciation. 

Another frequent origin of cough, is the rupture of some 
of the blood-vessels of the lungs; and the consequent effusion 
of blood into the cells, which is expelled by the cough that 
its irritation excites, constituting what is technically termed 
hemoptoe, hemoptysis, or spitting of blood. When the vessels 
of the lungs are thus ruptured, they seldom heat readily, but 
degenerate into ulcers, which pour out a purulent matter; and, 
by this discharge, the vital powers are gradually w r orn down 
and destroyed. This is a common source of consumption, 
or phthisis pulmonalis. A cough is excited; and the same 
fatal disorder is also induced, by the existence of tubercles in 
the lungs. These are little tumors, which gradually inflame 
and ulcerate, and produce the same consequences as the ulcer- 
ations from hemoptysis. Calculi, or stony concretions, are 
sometimes formed in the lungs, and the irritation which they 
produce necessarily excites a cough, which is liable to ter- 
minate in consumption. 

There is yet another source of irritation within the lungs, 
of which cough is an attendant, namely, an effusion of serum 
into the parenchymatous substance of the lungs, or into the 
cellular membrane, which connects the cells and blood-vessels 
together. This has been called anasarca pxdmonum, or 



COUGH. 



dropsy of the lungs, and is marked by great difficulty of 
breathing, with a sense of weight and oppression in the chest, 
occasioned by the compression of the air cells and vessels by 
the accumulated water; hence so great irregularity of pulse, ■ 
frightful dreams, imperfect sleep, etc., are among its symp- 
toms. Inflammation of the heart, and of the pericardium, 
or membrane surrounding it, is also accompanied by cough, 
and other symptoms not easily distinguishable from those of 
pleurisy and peripneumony. Where a cough is caused by 
disorders of parts external to the cavity of the chest, it is 
generally dry, as the irritating cause is external, and not any 
obstructing matter in the lungs themselves. Disorders of the 
viscera of the abdomen, especially of those which lie in con- 
tact with the diaphragm, frequently induce a cough. A short 
dry cough invariably attends inflammation of the liver, 
whether acute or chronic, and accompanies the various tuber- 
cular and other obstructions in that organ. Hence inflamma- 
tion of the liver is not unfrequently mistaken for inflammation 
in the lungs; and, in some of the chronic diseases of the liver, 
the cough is occasionally complained of as the most urgent 
symptom. The presence of pain in the right side, shooting 
up to the top of the shoulder, the dryness of the cough, and 
pain, enlargement, hardness, or uneasiness on pressure below 
the ribs of that side, will afford the best means of distinguish- 
ing whether a disease of the liver is the origin of the cough. 
Disorders of the stomach are, also, often accompanied with a 
cough of the same dry and teasing nature, especially when that 
organ is over distended with food, oris in the opposite condi- 
tion of emptiness. A short cough, is, therefore, a frequent 
symptom of indigestion and hypochondriasis, or of that weak- 
ness of the stomach which is popularly termed bilious. In 
short, there is scarcely any one of the viscera, in the cavity 
of the abdomen, the irritation of which, in a state of disease, 
has not excited cough. Disorders of the spleen, pancreas, 
and even the kidneys, have all given rise to this symptom : 
and external tumors, attached to them have had the same ef- 
fect. Any distention of the abdomen, which, by its pressure 



134 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

upwards, impedes the descent of the diaphragm, and conse- 
quently the expansion of the lungs, occasions cough. Thus, 
in the ascites, or dropsy of the belly, the water — in tympan- 
ites, the air— in corpulency, the fat in the omentum — and, in 
pregnancy, the gravid uterus — all have the effect of exciting 
cough in many constitutions. The variety of causes from 
which coughs may arise, must convince every reader of the 
absurdity of attempting to cure all kinds of coughs by the 
same remedy. 



Most of the directions in cases of consumption which are 
recommended in this work, will apply to coughs generally. 
We have known coughs of short duration cured by a few ap- 
plications of our Cough Liniment about the throat, breast, 
between the shoulders and to the bottoms of the feet. This 
mode of cure is much facilitated by administering our Dia- 
phoretic Drops. But after the cough has become seated, it is 
necessary to give the Pectoral Tincture as an expectorant and 
sometimes as an emetic. Whoever understands our mode of 
treating pulmonary complaints will not be at a loss to adopt 
our remedies in coughs. The great object in this disorder 
will generally be accomplished when the obstructions are re- 
moved. Little more is necessary than Tonics to restore the 
diminished strength of the patient. 



RHEUMATISM; 

A Disease, attended with sharp pains, which has so much 
resemblance to the gout, that some physicians have considered 
it not an entirely distinct disease; although they are by no 
means to be confounded. 

Rheumatism is distinguished into acute and chronic. The 
former is of short continuance, and either shifting to different 
parts of the body, or confined to a particular part; in the lat- 
ter case, it has a tendency to pass into the chronic, unless 



RHEUMATISM. 135 

properly attended to; it is often attended with fever, or some- 
times comes on in the train of a fever. This combination of 
rheumatism with fever is called rheumatic fever, which is 
considered by physicians a distinct species. Chronic rheu- 
matism is attended with pains in the head, shoulders, knees, 
and other large joints, which at times are confined to one 
particular part, and at others shift from one joint to another, 
without occasioning any fever; and in this manner the com- 
plaint continues often for a considerable time, and at length 
goes off. No danger is attendant on chronic rheumatism; but 
a person having been once attacked with it, is ever afterwards 
more or less liable to returns of it. Neither is the acute 
rheumatism frequently accompanied with much danger. The 
acute is preceded by shivering, heat, thirst, and feeble pulse; 
after which the pain commences, and soon fixes upon the 
joints. The chronic rheumatism is distinguished by pain in 
the joints, without fever, and is divided into three species: 
lumbago, affecting the loins; sciatica, affecting the hip; and 
arthrodynia, or pains in the joints. The acute rheumatism 
mostly terminates in one of these species. Rheumatism may 
arise at all times of the year, when there are frequent vicissi- 
tudes of the weather from heat to cold, but the spring and 
autumn are the seasons in which it is most prevalent, and it 
attacks persons of all ages; but very young people are less 
subject to it than adults. Obstructed perspiration, occasioned 
either by wearing wet clothes, lying in damp linen, or damp 
rooms, or by being exposed to ccol air when the body has 
been much heated by exercise, are the causes which usually 
produce rheumatism. Those who are much afflicted with 
this complaint, are very apt to be sensible of the approach of 
wet weather, by finding wandering pains about them at that 
period. Rheumatism usually affects only the external mus- 
cular parts; but it has sometimes been known to affect the 
internal parts, especially the serous membranes, the pleura, 
the peritoneum, the dura mater. 



136 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



TREATMENT. 

The forms of rheumatism are so various — the appearance 
so different in persons of different habits, that it is no easy 
matter to give special directions for the treatment thereof. 
Much must depend on circumstances, which are so various, 
that we find great difficulty in directing and adapting all the 
modes, in which our remedies are susceptible of being suc- 
cessfully applied. In common cases of rheumatism, pains in 
the joints of short duration, a few applications of the Rheu- 
matic Liniment will generally cure. If of longer standing, 
and there be wandering pains, we have known the patient 
cured by one full application over the whole body, taking the 
Diaphoretic Drops freel} 7 , and herb tea, covering up warm in 
bed, with hot bricks to the feet and sides, and keeping in a 
profuse perspiration for two hours. Perhaps it may be ne- 
cessary, in some of these cases, to apply the Liniment a few 
times afterwards, in order to prevent a recurrence. 

In chronic rheumatism of long standing, the disease is by 
no means so easily subdued. In addition to the above treat- 
ment, we find it sometimes necessary to take internally, for a 
length of time, our Vegetable Syrup and Alterative Drops; 
wear plasters spread with the Liniment over the region of 
the pain; and frequently, it is necessary to use so much 
Liniment on the plasters as to cause an abraded surface — and 
still continue the Liniment. 

We also wash the affected parts with the Diaphoretic 
Drops. Make use of the saline bath frequently. Wash off 
with soap suds, and use the flesh brush freely. Sometimes 
we give an emetic of the Pectoral Tincture. We are careful 
to keep the bowels open by cathartics, if necessary. We fre- 
quently give our Essence of Life, and in some extreme cases, 
the Nerve Sanative is of much importance, especially if there 
be any cramps in the stomach. If there be paroxysms of 
fever, we reduce them with our Fever preparations. Some- 



RHEUMATISM. 137 

times we steam the affected limbs with bitter herbs, and at 
others, we sweat the patient with burning alcohol, in which 
salt has been dissolved. 

We have cured many extreme cases, after many months' 
continuing to make the above applications every day. When 
the system is very torpid, we have introduced two ounces of 
Liniment into the system, daily, for more than a month, and 
found the most decided advantage therefrom. 



CHAP. IV. 

DYSPEPSIA. 

Dyspepsia — difficulty of digestion. The strict etymology 
of the term implies an imperfect, or disordered condition of 
the functions of digestion. Systematic writers, in their artifi- 
cial arrangements have been not a little perplexed to find an 
appropriate location for this affection, and this difficulty must 
exist whilst symptoms, which are always fluctuating, are ad- 
mitted into systems of nosology, as the elements of nomencla- 
ture and arrangement. From the same circumstances, differ- 
ent symptoms of the affection have received the character of 
separate disease, as apepsia, bradypepsia, anorexia, cardialgia, 
etc. These are no more than different grades in the symp- 
toms, or varieties of the affection, and are not different dis- 
eases. 

The disorder of the digestive function is the most frequent 
and general of the ailments that afflict man in the civilized 
state. All classes and all ages suffer from its attacks. Few 
are so happy as to pass through a life of ordinary duration, 
without undergoing a protracted struggle with this malady, 
and experiencing its torments. Let it once be fully estab- 
lished, and the comfort of existence disappears, to be regained, 
in most cases, tediously, and at the price of the most ascetic 
self-denial. The greater prevalence of dyspepsia, or indiges- 
tion, in modern times, arises from the more frequent injury 
done to the stomach and its functions, directly, by the habits 
of luxurious indulgence, which have been exceedingly in- 
creased and extended; and, indirectly, by the multiplication 
of intellectual and moral agitations, through an extension of 
the commercial and financial operations of society, the greater 



140 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

activity and employment of the mental faculties, and by the 
augmentation of political, social and individual reverses. 
Something, too, is to be ascribed to the mere change of names. 
We call that dyspepsia now, which formerly, was termed 
liver disease, bilious disorder, etc. 

A large proportion of the discomfort produced by this 
malady arises from an ignorance of the digestive functions, 
leading to their abuse and premature derangement, and may 
be obviated, to a great extent, by instruction as to the nature 
of these functions, and their natural exercise. A general 
view of the digestive organs and functions is therefore requi- 
site to an understanding of their disorders, the means to pre- 
vent, and the methods of remedying them. 

All organized or animated beings hold their existence under 
the condition of renewing incessantly, the elements of their 
composition, by an appropriation to themselves of exterior 
matters. Simple animals find, in the medium wherein they 
live, and from which they directly receive them, the princi- 
ples serving for their composition. The decomposition of 
animal and vegetable matter in the soil prepares the aliment 
or nutritive principle of vegetables, which, being held in 
solution by water, is absorbed by their roots. In all these 
beings there are no digestive organs or functions. The prepa- 
rations of their nutriment is effected by physical operations 
exterior to themselves, and over which they have no control. 
In the higher and more perfectly organized beings, as in man, 
the case is very different. Nature does not present to them 
the nutritive elements in a state fitted for introduction, at 
once, into the interior organism, and for employment in its 
composition. Their aliments consist of the nutrive principles 
in a compound state, intimately combined with other substan- 
ces, from which they require to be disengaged. This is ac- 
complished by the animal itself, which is provided with espe- 
cial organs, or apparatus and functions for this purpose. Di- 
gestion then consists in the disengagement of the nutritive 
elements from their combinations, and their reduction to the 
molecular state, thus preparing them for introduction into the 



DYSPEPSIA. 141 

vessels, and for diffusion throughout the organism, to subserve 
the purpose of its composition. It is a process analogous to 
the decomposition of the aliment of vegetables in the soil, 
and is affected, like all decompositions, by analogous or chim- 
ical operations. In this class, the procuring of the aliment 
is the act of the animal, depending on its voluntary powers, 
and is controlled by a great variety of circumstances, affecting 
the quantity and quality of the food. 

The organs composing the digestive apparatus in man, are 
numerous. They are the mouth, armed with teeth, for me- 
chanically breaking down the food by mastication; the saliva- 
ry glands, furnishing a fluid intimately combined with the 
food, in mastication, and collected in the stomach, which is 
its reservoir; the pharynx, a muscular and membranous bag, 
for the reception of the masticated bolus from the mouth; 
the oesophagus, a muscular and membranous tube, for con- 
ducting the bolus into the stomach; the stomach, a muscular 
and membranous bag, or enlargement of the alimentary canal, 
secreting a fluid or fluids, and a reservoir of the salivary and 
other secretory fluids of the interior surfaces. In the stomach 
the food is subjected to the decomposing process, until re- 
duced to a pulpy mass, called chyme, consisting of the nutri- 
tive and innutritive elements, in a state of mechanical mix- 
ture. Then follows the duodenum, or second stomach, in 
which the chymous mass is submitted to the action of the 
biliary and pancreatic fluids, and in which the nutritive ele- 
ments begin to separate from the innutritive matters, and to 
be absorbed by the lacteals, the roots of the animal economy. 
Afterwards we find the liver and pancreas, furnishing bile, 
and a species of saliva, which are mixed with, and act on the 
chyme in the duodenum; the jejunum and ileum, or small in- 
testines, in the course of which the separation, begun in the 
duodenum, is completed, and nearly the whole of the nutri- 
tive principles forming chyle, are absorbed; and, lastly, the 
large intestines, a reservoir for all the excrementitious prin- 
ciples, and which, in it, are converted to fseces. The whole 
of these organs compose the apparatus of digestion, but all 



142 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

are not of equal importance. The stomach and duodenum 
are the most eminent organs, and those whose condition ex- 
ercises the greatest influence over the powers of digestion* 
The different parts of this apparatus, are intimately connected, 
and a natural state of each of them, and a due exercise of the 
functions of each, are essential to the healthy, undisturbed 
performance of digestion. This connection is maintained 
through the ganglionary system of nerves, which not only 
unites these organs together, but combines them with all the 
congeries, appropriated to the perfect elaboration of the nu- 
tritive and sustaining principles in the economy. The sto- 
mach is the center of the digestive apparatus, and may be re- 
garded in nearly the same view, for the whole of the organs 
connected with individual nutrition. It owes this character 
to its intimate union with the great solar plexus, the center 
or brain, if it may be so termed, of the ganglionary system, 
regulating the nutritive functions. It is also immediately asso- 
ciated with the brain, through the medium of the eighth pair 
or pneumo -gastric nerves, and thus is placed in relation with 
the exercise of the moral and intellectual faculties. The 
stomach is, consequently, liable to be disordered in its func- 
tions, by violent impressions upon these faculties, as these also 
in their turn are liable to be affected by the disordered condi- 
tion of the stomach. It is necessary to have these diversified 
connections pointed out, in order to possess a clear under- 
standing of the numerous and very different sources, from 
which disturbances arise to the progress of digestion. 

A few words will now be necessary as to digestion itself. 
All substances are not fitted for aliment, nor susceptible of 
digestion. Food is intended for the renovation of the body. 
It must consist of the same elements as those which constitute 
the animal structure, and be capable of becoming organized 
and vital. It must, then, contain at least three elementary 
animal principles — hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen; and much 
of it also contains a fourth — viz : azote. These elements 
form secondary compounds, in which state alone they consti- 
tute aliment: such are albumen, fibrin, gelatin, osmazome, oil, 



DYSPEPSIA. 143 

engan, farina, mucilage, and other animal and vegetable com- 
pounds. In all these substances, the molecules are easily sep- 
arable, without being chimically decomposed; and this is one 
of the primary requisites of digestibility, to effect which is 
the chief object of digestion. The masticated and insalivated 
food passes into the stomach. Here it is macerated in the 
saliva collected in the stomach, and in the proper liquid se- 
creted by the villi of the gastric mucous membrane, at a tem- 
perature of 104° Fahr. This liquor is called gastric juice. 
Its true nature is not accurately determined; but, as far as dis- 
coveries of it have been made, it resembles saliva, mixed with 
a small portion of lactic or muriatic acid. The stomach, in a 
healthy state, always contracts on its contents, so that, in diges- 
tion, its parietes are always in contact with the food. During 
digestion, the stomach has a constant vermicular motion, its 
muscular fibers contracting successively, from the smaller to 
the larger end. The food thus agitated, acquires a rotatory 
movement, and is mingled with the fluids of the stomach. 
In a short time, the change to be accomplished in the stomach 
commences; the food, becoming pulpy and thin, is reduced 
to a semifluid, of a light, grayish color. From the uniform 
pressure of the stomach, the solid and most resisting portions 
are forced into the center, while the digested and more fluid 
matter is found on the surface, and is gradually carried, by 
the contraction of the muscular fibres, into the duodenum. 
William Philips, and others, have been led to suppose, from 
this circumstance, that the food in contact with the parietes 
of the stomach, was alone digested; but it is a mere physical 
result, as uniform pressure in every direction, on a mass of 
different consistency, will always drive the most fluid to the 
circumference. 

The pulpy, grayish substance, resulting from the stomachic 
digestion, is called chyme. When examined with the micro- 
scope, the writer of this article has always found it to consist 
of an immense number of transparent globules, of various 
sizes, intermixed with undissolved fragments of the fibers of 
the alimentary substance. When food is masticated, and 



144 DISSASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

macerated for a few hours in simple saliva, he has found it to 
present exactly the same appearances as the chyme of the 
stomach. The digestion of the stomach, he infers from his 
experiments, is not a decomposition of the alimentary 
matter, but is a simple disintegration of it into its com- 
ponent molecules, the animal character remaining un- 
changed. The chyme, having passed into the duodenum, 
meets with the pancreatic liquor and the bile. What are the 
positive changes induced by these fluids, is not accurately 
known. The acids of the chymous mass are neutralized by 
the alkaline principles of the bile, the picromel and coloring 
matter of which appear to coalesce with the unassimilative 
principles of the food, and assist in their conversion into 
faeces. A chimical modification in some of the alimentary 
elements, may also be effected. It is certain that chyle, or 
the nutritive principles of which blood is formed, does not 
appear in the lacteals until after the action of the bile and 
pancreatic fluid on the chyme, the product of the stomachic 
digestion. The action of the stomach on the food, is that 
usually designated as digestion, and it is the derangement of 
this process that is usually expressed by the term dyspepsia. 
The process accomplished in the duodenum, is also a true di- 
gestion, and the symptoms arising from its disordered state, 
are confounded with those of the stomachic digestion, in the 
general account of dyspepsia. 

From this sketch of the function of digestion, it is evident 
that its most important agents are, 1st, the fluid secreted in 
the stomach; 2d, the contractile movements of the stomach, 
keeping the alimentary mass in constant agitation, mixing it 
with the fluids as they are secreted, and removing the portion 
digested, or reduced into chyme; 3d, the application of the 
biliary and pancreatic fluids to the chyme, in the duodenum; 
4th, the contractile movements of this viscus. Most of the 
derangements of the digestive functions may be traced imme- 
diately to a departure from a natural state of some one or 
more of the above requisites of digestion. But this devia- 
tion from the natural order is, itself, an effect. The secretions 



DYSPEPSIA. 145 

are products of organs, and all excitement of the secretory 
organs beyond the range of healthy action, causes a vitiation 
of the secretion, or its total suspension. This action of the 
organ, diminished below the physiological range, is attended 
with other vitiations of the fluid, or the cessation of its se- 
cretion. Indigestion, or dyspepsia, is a consequence of both 
these conditions of the organs furnishing the fluids of diges- 
tion. Digestion is a very stimulating process: all functional 
actions are exciting. The increased demand for secreted 
fluids renders an augmented action, and an increase of blood 
in the furnishing organs, necessary, for their production. The 
presence of the food, drinks, etc., in the stomach, add to the 
stimulation of digestion. If the stomach of an animal be 
examined while in the act of digestion, its mucous membrane 
is found to be of a diffused scarlet color. The movement of 
the stomach essential to digestion depends on its nervous com- 
munications, and especially on the integrity of the eighth 
pair of nerves. When these are divided, the stomach and 
oesophagus are paralyzed; the food is no longer agitated and 
mixed up with the digestive fluids, and it often regurgitates 
from the stomach into the oesophagus. This fact proves the 
influence of the contractile motion of the stomach in the act 
of digestion. The ganglionic nerves are not less important, 
though their specific influence cannot as readily be determined. 
But in many cases of disease of ganglions, vomiting, eructa- 
tions, pain in the gastric region, and impaired digestion, are 
accompanying symptoms. Through the nervous system, the 
function of digestion is exposed to numerous disorders from 
moral impressions, especially those of an agitating character. 
From the preceding principles, it is evident that dyspepsia 
or indigestion is not, properly speaking, a disease, but rather 
a symptom, indicative of diseases of the digestive apparatus, 
themselves very various and even opposite in their character. 
No specific treatment can, therefore, be laid down for the cure 
of dyspepsia, but each case requires to be managed according 
to its peculiar cause and nature. The organ of the digestive 
apparatus most frequently productive of dyspeptic symptoms 
19 



146 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

is the stomach, and the most usual cause of dyspepsia is its 
irritation and inflammation. The stomach is more liable than 
any other organ to these states, from its direct exposure to so 
many irritating influences, and its intimate sympathetic com- 
munications, which make it participate in the irritations of 
almost every other organ. The sub-acute and chronic forms 
of gastric irritations and inflammation, the signs of which 
have only of late been fully appreciated, are the disorders 
that, in seven or eight cases out of ten, are termed dyspepsia. 
Hence dyspepsia so frequently succeeds to febrile diseases, 
especially when treated by emetics, drastics, and the improper 
use of tonics and stimulants, which, although the patient may 
escape the fever, leaves him a victim to the chronic, disorgan- 
izing and perturbating irritations of the gastric mucous mem- 
brane. Hence, too, dyspepsia almost inevitably follows con- 
tinued abuse of the digestive functions, from too highly sea- 
soned or too abundant food, and stimulant drinks. The con- 
stant stimulation of the stomach finally becomes pathological 
or morbid. The simple prolongation of the functional ex- 
citement essential to digestion, continued from meal to meal, 
without permitting the stomach to revert to a state of repose, 
is sufficient to constitute a morbid condition. All functions, 
for their perfect performance, require alternate periods of re- 
pose and activity. Incessant action irritates, inflames, and 
finally disorganizes the structure of the organs. 

A second condition of the stomach, productive of dyspep- 
sia, is the congestion of its mucus tissue. This may be con- 
fined to the stomach alone, succeeding an attack of acute gas- 
tritis, or following on its protracted irritation; or it may be an 
attendant on a general congestion of the whole portal system 
involving most of the abdominal viscera. Every irritation is 
attended by an afflux of the circulating fluids into the structure 
where it is seated; an afflux proportioned to its intensity and 
the vascularity of the structure. This gorged state often con- 
tinues after the subsidence of the irritation that provoked it, 
and prevents a resumption of the healthy functions. It is a 
state of passive congestion, and often exists in the mucous 



DYSPEPSIA. 147 

membrane of the stomach, after attacks of inflammation or 
acute irritations, and embarrasses its digestive operations. In 
all the extensive irritations of the alimentary canal, especially 
when attended with fever, having a paroxysmal character, the 
great portal system of the abdomen becomes loaded with 
blood, and congestion of its radical vessels ensues. The 
functions of the viscera are then disordered, the secretions 
are defective, and indigestion, costiveness, and their attendant 
affections, are the necessary consequences. 

A third state of the stomach, causing dyspeptic symptoms, 
is precisely the reverse of the preceding. Asthenia, or dimi- 
nution of vitality and actions below the healthy degree, occa- 
sionally takes possession of the stomach. Its circulation is 
then deficient, its secreted fluids are defective in quantity or 
quality, its sensibility is impaired, and digestion is imperfect. 
It is not probable that gastric asthenia is ever primitive. It 
succeeds to previous irritation, and is often occasioned by 
irritation in other organs. 

All the preceding conditions form a first class of dyspeptic 
diseases, which, depending entirely on the stomach, may be 
termed gastric dyspepsia. This class embraces three spe- 
cies. 

A second class of dyspeptic diseases is connected with the 
duodenum and its functions. This viscus, similarly consti- 
tuted to the stomach, is subject to the same morbid alterations. 
Its mucous membrane is the seat of irritation, in its various 
grades, and productive of its usual consequences — augmented 
irritability, sensibility, perversion of secretions, vitiation of 
structure, and disorder of function. Duodenic irritation most 
commonly accompanies gastric irritation, and the symptoms 
of the two are blended together. It exists, however, in many 
instances independently, and then manifests particular symp- 
toms, which are often termed dyspepsia. It is, more espe- 
cially, the chronic irritations of the duodenum, that pass for 
dyspepsia. It is not probable that congestion, or asthenia 
ever affects the duodenum exclusively, to the detriment of its 
functions. When these states prevail, it is in conjunction 



148 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

with similar conditions of the whole digestive apparatus. At 
least, we have no knowledge of these states limited to the 
duodenum. 

A third class of dj^speptic diseases depend on those organs 
which furnish nerves to the digestive viscera. The gangli- 
onic system of nerves, distributed on each side of the spine, 
from the head to the pelvis, transmits nerves to all the organs 
connected with the nutritive function. The stomach espe- 
cially, is largely supplied from the solar plexus, and it re- 
ceives, likewise, numerous nervous filaments from the pneu- 
mo-gastric, placing it in connection with the functions of re- 
lation. The offices of the ganglionic system, are not ascer- 
tained with precision. It is, however, well determined, that 
diseases of the ganglions, disorder the functions of the viscera 
to which they transmit nerves. Hence arises an order of 
dyspeptic symptoms, independent of any immediate affection 
of the stomach, but occasioned by disease in the great solar, 
or other neighboring plexus. The disorders of the digestive 
functions, from this cause, are various. The sensibility of 
the stomach is sometimes greatly increased, constituting gas- 
tralgia. At other times, the secreted fluids of the stomach 
are morbidly acid. The stomach appears, in other cases, to 
be partially paralyzed, and the peristaltic movements, neces- 
sary for the admixture of the food with the gastric fluids,, 
and the continuous passage of the chyme into the duodenum, 
are suspended. At the same time, considerable quantities of 
flatus collect in and distend the stomach, preventing its action 
on the food. Mechanical manipulation of the abdomen, and 
particularly of the epigastrium, after a meal, becomes a sub- 
stitute for the natural motion of the stomach, expels the wind 7 
and facilitates digestion, that would otherwise be laborious 
and painful. 

Dyspepsia, or indigestion, from this analysis of its modes 
of production, is seen not to be a disease of uniform character,, 
and depending on an identical state of the digestive organs^ 
It is attached, as a symptom, rather to a variety of conditions^ 
each of which requires to be managed in its appropriate mode- 



DYSPEPSIA. 149 

It is not possible that it can be remedied by any one general 
mode of treatment, or by any set of specific remedies. 

The most common causes of dyspepsia, are excesses of va- 
rious kinds, especially in quantity of food. Most individ- 
uals, in this country, err in this respect. Meat at three meals, 
daily, can be borne only by the most robust frames, and by 
hard laborers. Persons of a sedentary life, require less nutri- 
ment; the economy makes less demand on the stomach for 
supplies; and if it be compelled then to labor, it is at its own 
loss. Exercise, or the expenditure of the nutritive elements 
by the economy, and the quantity of food to be digested, must 
be proportioned to each other, for the preservation of health, 
and the due vigor of digestion. The food, by being render- 
ed tender and pulpy, is reduced to chyme in a shorter period, 
with a smaller expenditure of the secreted fluids, and less ex- 
citement of the stomach, than when it is not properly con- 
cocted. The art of long and healthy living, will depend on 
a perfect system of cooking, and a rational mode of eating. 
The powers of the stomach differ in individuals, as much as 
the force of their muscles; and each one must adopt a mode 
of nutrition, both as to quantity and quality of food, suitable 
to the wants of his economy, and the digestive capacity of 
his stomach. The quality of food is a frequent cause of 
dyspepsia. Tough and badly dressed meats, and crude vege- 
tables, are among the prominent causes of this affliction; as 
are also hot bread and cakes, heavy and fresh bread, and the 
daily use of hot coffee for breakfast. In enumerating the 
most common causes of dyspeptic symptoms, we ought not 
to omit the frequent exacerbations of malevolent passions, as 
anger, hatred, envy, jealousy, and, what is not often suspected, 
excessive indulgence and abuse of the venereal propensity. 
Another fruitful source of the digestive disorders, is found 
in the employment of emetics, and in a frequent resort to 
saline or drastric cathartic medicines. When a constipated 
habit prevails, it should always be overcome, if possible, by a 
laxative regimen, and the acids of purgatives should be cau- 
tiously and rarely invoked. 



150 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



TREATMENT. 



Though it may not be expected that our general directions 
will be competent to meet the different forms of this disease, 
in all cases, the ingenuity of those who are acquainted with 
our remedies will, in most cases, suggest the means of sup- 
plying the deficiency, according to the nature of the case. In 
all cases, we 

1st. Apply the Stimulating Liniment, with much friction, 
to the stomach; wear a plaster of the same over the whole 
region of the liver, and down as low as the navel, renewing 
the same once or twice a day, and at each renewal rub the 
Liniment in with the hand, as first directed. If the nerves 
be affected, apply the Nerve Liniment on the whole length of 
the spine, and on the top of the head. Wash the whole body 
with salt and water, applied with a flesh brush (stiff as can be 
borne) every day. 

2d. In more severe cases, wash the whole body with soap 
and water, applied with a flesh brush, wipe dry, apply the salt 
and water, (salt as it can be made,) rub dry, and then apply the 
Stimulating Liniment over the whole body, once every day, 
with much friction; apply plasters to the bottoms of the feet; 
wear the plasters as first directed, also, and repeat the washing 
off with soap suds, etc., every third day. Take our Vegeta- 
ble Syrup, Alterative Drops, and Essence of Life, according 
to directions. To prepare the system for the reception of the 
Liniment in the first instance, (after washing off and applying 
the Liniment as directed under this head,) place warm bricks 
to the sides, and bottoms of the feet, when in bed, and use 
our Diaphoretic Drops freely, as directed. 

3d. In extreme cases, where a healthy action of the system 
is not readily produced by the above directions, and where 
the liver has become extremely torpid, we use a salt hath to 
good advantage, and immediately apply a plaster of glazed 
cloth, in form of a vest, covering the whole chest, which is 
worn night and day, renewing the Liniment and using fric- 
tion, as above directed. 



MENTAL DERANGEMENT. 151 

To apply the salt bath, take a gill of alcohol, and add as 
much fine salt as will dissolve in it, set it on fire, under a 
chair, on which let the patient sit, covered with a blanket to 
his neck, and take of the Diaphoretic Drops according to di- 
rections: this will cause a copious perspiration, without any 
diminution of strength; after which, wash off with warm salt 
and water, using the brush, and the system will readily re- 
ceive the Liniment. 

In these affections, the bowels generally become consti- 
pated: the exhibition of our Vegetable Syrup, will in most 
cases overcome the difficulty; but should it not be sufficient, a 
gentle cathartic may be administered. 

Note. — When the lungs are in any degree affected, the 
Consumption Liniment should be applied to the breast, and 
over the region of the lungs, with plasters: so, when the pa- 
tient is affected with rheumatic symptoms, or pains, accom- 
panying this disease, the Liniment for rheumatism should be 
applied over the parts thus affected. 

A large number of cases, and apparently of very alarming 
character, have been relieved and cured by the use of our 
remedies as first directed, and it has generally been found to 
be all that was necessary for the complete cure of dyspepsia. 
In some cases, relief is very soon gained; in others, it has re- 
quired time and perseverance; but, when the disease has evi- 
dently made a deep impression upon the system, especially 
when it has been accompanied with nervous or rheumatic 
affections, and a state of convalescence is not soon produced, 
we resort to the other remedies and modes of application, as 
given under the 2d and 3d heads of direction; a persevering 
use of which we have never known to fail of fully accom- 
plishing the desired object — that of sound health, and vigor. 



MENTAL DERANGEMENT — INSANITY. 

By these general terms, we understand every form of in- 
tellectual disorder, whether consisting in a total want or aliena- 



152 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

tion of understanding, as in idiocy, or in only slight aberra- 
tions of the faculties. Medical writers have adopted different 
S} T stems of classification, in their treatment of this subject; 
but perhaps the most convenient, is that which comprises all 
mental diseases under the four heads of mania, melancholy, 
demency or fatuity, and idiocy. Lunacy, in its proper sense, 
implies an influence of the changes of the moon on the state 
of the mind or body, of which modern science cannot recog- 
nize the operation. It is true, that many diseases are periodi- 
cal; and it is not improbable, that paroxysms of violence 
among insane persons, may be really increased at the time of 
a full moon, by the effect of the shadows of clouds, and other 
objects, as ghosts are generally seen by moonlight; but any 
other lunar influence, neither experience nor science can dis- 
cover. 

The causes of insanity are divided, by modern writers, into 
physical and moral. Every excess of passion — joy, grief, 
anger, fear, anxiety, etc., may become a moral cause of in- 
sanity. Great political or civil revolutions have always been 
observed to be attended with numerous cases of mental de- 
rangement. Pinel observed this phenomenon in France, after 
the revolution of 1789; and Doctor Rush describes similar 
effects in the United States, after the war of the revolution. 
Strong religious excitement often produces similar results, 
although, in many cases, religious enthusiasm is only a form 
of the malady, and not a cause. Madden, ( Travels in Egypt, 
Nubia, etc., 1830,) states that insanity is rare among the Mo- 
hammedans, and attributes it to their consoling belief in the 
certainty of their salvation. Doctor Rush thinks that the 
disease is more common among civilized communities, than 
with savages, on account of the greater influence of moral 
causes on the former. The physical causes of insanity are 
various, and numerous; diseases of various kinds, and of dif- 
ferent organs; bodily injuries, or wounds; excessive indul- 
gence in eating, drinking, and other sensual pleasures; priva- 
tion; exposure to extreme cold, or heat, etc., are among them. 
Insane persons are often, however, in good health; and dis- 



MENTAL DERANGEMENT. 153 

section does not always detect a disordered condition of the 
organs. Philosophy is not sufficiently acquainted with the 
mutual action and reaction of the body and the mind on each 
other, to decide how far the disordered state of the one is 
consistent with the sanity of the other; nor is it certain that 
there is any one organ, or function, which must be diseased, 
to affect the mind. Climate, age, occupation, and sex, are 
often mentioned as causes influencing insanity. But climate 
does not appear to be an exciting cause, although the moral, 
civil, religious, or physical condition of a nation, may have 
rendered the disorder more frequent in some countries than 
in others. The seasons, however, appear to exercise an influ- 
ence, and it is generally observed that the cases of insanity 
are most numerous in the hottest part of the year. Suicides 
are most frequent when the thermometer is above 84°. Al- 
though many circumstances, both physical and moral, appear 
to render the female sex more liable to insanity, it does not 
appear that the number of insane females is greater than that 
of males; drunkenness being more prevalent among the latter, 
may be one cause of this. In both sexes, the most active 
period of life, from thirty to forty, presents the greatest num- 
ber of cases. In regard to occupation, sufficient data do not 
exist to show that there is any decided predominance of cases 
in any particular employment. 

Idiocy is either a congenital, or an acquired defect of the 
intellectual faculties, or, as Pinel defines it, an obliteration, 
more or less absolute, of the functions of the understanding 
and affections of the heart. Congenital idiocy may originate 
from a malformation of the cranium, or of the brain itself; 
the senses are often wanting, or defective, and life is com- 
monly of short duration. Acquired idiocy proceeds from 
mechanical injury of the cranium, or from an injury or a 
disease of the brain; from excess in sensual indulgences, in- 
temperance, fatigue, and from moral causes. In some, the 
senses may be partially affected, or quite destroyed; and life 
often continues to old age. Absolute idiocy admits of no 
20 



154 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

cure; but it should not be too hastily concluded that a patient 
is in this state. 

The term demency is applied to a complete or partial hebe- 
tude of individual faculties, particularly those of association 
and comparison, producing confusion of thoughts, loss of me- 
mory, childishness, a diminution or loss of the powers of vo- 
lition; it differs from idiocy, in being curable. Persons being 
reduced to this state, exterior objects make but weak impres- 
sions on them; the sensations are therefore feeble, obscure, 
and incomplete; the patient does not form a correct idea of 
objects, nor compare associate or abstract ideas. It is often 
merely an attendant of other diseases, or other forms of in- 
sanity, and is frequently quite temporary, though it often be- 
comes permanent. 

Mania (madness) is a species of mental derangement, 
characterized by the disorder of one or several of the facul- 
ties, or by a blind impulse to acts of fury. Adults are the 
principal subjects. A nervous temperament, an irritable con- 
stitution, predispose to it. Females are more exposed to it 
than males, particularly at the period when menstruation be- 
gins or ceases, during pregnancy, and after delivery. Violent 
emotions, a dissipated life, excess in any indulgence, some- 
times produce it. This disorder of the intellectual faculties, 
is manifested by extravagant, gay, gloomy, or furious emo- 
tions; the gestures and words seem automatic. Sometimes 
the conversation is rational, but the patient bursts out at in- 
tervals, into paroxysms of rage, attacking everything which 
he meets; the moral affections also seem deadened, and the 
most ferocious hatred is displayed towards the most natural 
objects of love. It is sometimes cured, but sometimes re- 
mains stationary, and sometimes is converted into demency. 
Repeated bleeding, hellebore, cold water poured upon the 
head, scouring, and other means of terror, were formerly em- 
ployed as remedies. At present, solitude, warm baths, low 
diet, etc., are more commonly applied. Some dark or mourn- 
ful ideas occupy the mind exclusively, so that, by degrees, it 
becomes unable to judge rightfully of existing circumstances, 



MENTAL DERANGEMENT. 155 

and the faculties are disturbed in their functions. The pow- 
ers of the soul become weakened, we might say crippled. If 
these feelings are allowed to attain a hight, at which the pow- 
er of self-control is lost, a settled gloom takes possession of 
the mind — consciousness, however, may still continue; the 
person knows his state: but if conciousness is also lost, if this 
state becomes continual, the melancholic patient is insensible 
to the world around him; he only lives within himself, and 
there only in the circle of one fixed idea. In this disordered 
state of the feelings, the other faculties may still continue to 
act, although the mode and result of their operation will ne- 
cessarily be influenced by the existing disease. There may 
be reflection in the actions of the patient, but the reflection 
proceeds from false premises. 

Several kinds of melancholy are distinguished; the distinc- 
tions are founded, however, mostly on the cause of the dis- 
ease. A very common cause of melancholy is love. He 
who loses the great object of his wishes and affections, which 
has absorbed, we might almost say, the whole activity of his 
soul, feels more than a jealousy at the success of a fortunate 
rival; existence appears to him a blank, and himself the most 
unhappy of men. Another frequent cause of melancholy, is 
gloomy views of religion. A constant excitement of the 
feelings, by the awful picture of the eternal punishment of sin, 
often produces absolute despair. The use of such means, to 
prepare the mind for the reception of deep religious princi- 
ples, has not unfrequently led to distraction and suicide. Re- 
peated failures in enterprises pursued with anxious zeal, may 
also reduce the faculties of a man so much, that he becomes 
wrapt up solely in the idea of his misfortune. Melancholy 
patients often flee from men, haunt solitary places, such as 
grave-yards, and are given to nocturnal rambles. The course 
of the disease is various; sometimes it lasts a series of years; 
sometimes it ceases itself, or is cured by medical aid; more 
frequently it passes over into other kinds of insanity, or into 
bodily diseases, as dropsy of the chest, consumption, dropsy 
in the head, apoplexy, etc. It is said that melancholy people 



156 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

rarely suffer from the gout, or are attacked by epidemic dis- 
eases. Several physical causes are enumerated, as inducing 
it, particularly a superfluity of black bile. Various derange- 
ments in the physical system tend to occasion it, as debility 
of the nerves, violent flow of the blood to the heart, superfluity 
of thick blood, etc. 

TREATMENT. 

The man who becomes a maniac is but a mere blank in 
society — nay, worse— for sometimes his nearest friends and 
bosom companions are in imminent danger from his ravings. 
Within half a century, much has been done by the philan- 
thropist in alleviating his forlorn situation; asylums have been 
erected; the State has contributed means to render him com- 
fortable ; the best regimen and management have been 
adopted to restore him to his right reason; and it is a pleasing 
reflection that in many instances these means have had a most 
salutary influence, and sometimes the insane is restored to his 
friends. While all these philanthropic institutions have been 
progressing, it is with much satisfaction we reflect that some- 
thing has been done by our remedies for the benefit of this 
distressed class of people. A number of individuals (under 
circumstances of confirmed madness) have been brought to 
the enjoyment of sound health and reason, by our preparations 
alone, without the aid of other agents. Whatever may have 
been the producing cause of mental derangement, it will not 
be denied that the derangement of the nervous system is the 
cause of a continuation of the complaint. In all cases which 
have been treated by our remedies, just so soon as the nerves 
were restored to a healthy state, so soon reason has reassumed 
her empire. For the accomplishment of this object we have 
prepared a number of medicines which are admirably adapted 
to the restoration of those organs. Our Nerve Liniment, Ve- 
getable Syrup, Nerve Sanative, Essence of Life, and Pecto- 
ral Tincture, are all adapted to the complaint, and can be made 
use of in various stages of the disease, with the most decided 
advantage. 



HYPOCHONDRIASIS. 157 

These remedies are well adapted to the cure of those dis- 
eases which are generally attendant on a deranged state of the 
nerves; and it would be in vain to attempt to restore the 
nerves to soundness, while the cause which produced their 
derangement remained in the system. A peculiarly pleasing 
incident has thus far attended the administration of our rem- 
edies in cases of insanity. The relief they have gained, has 
been so readily manifest that on a recovery of their senses, the 
patients thus afflicted have become attached to the medicine, 
and in some instances have refused to be further treated by 
any other remedies. 

The shaving of the head and applying the Nerve Liniment 
to the same, to the neck, and in the ears, with the usual course 
of administering our remedies, as laid down in this work, is 
all that is necessary to be said to render the treatment success- 
ful by a physician of intelligence. 



HYPOCHONDRIASIS, 



This is one of the most troublesome diseases. Its seat is in 
the abdomen, particularly under the short ribs; but when it 
has increased to a certain degree, it manifests itself in the 
most various ways, in the whole body, as there are few dis- 
eases of which the hypochondriac does not at some time or 
other complain. He feels a pressure on the right side, and 
thinks it is owing to a complaint of the liver; he has pains in 
the breast, and immediately apprehends inflammation of the 
lungs; his head feels heavy, and nothing is more certain than 
an approaching apoplexy; he sees specks before his eyes, and 
a cataract is unavoidable; if the heart beats stronger than 
usual, a polypus in that organ is probable; and an unimportant 
pimple becomes the indication of inveterate ulcers; and so on. 
All these effects of the disease are explicable from its nature, 
seat, and causes. Hypochondria is a disturbance of the func- 
tions of the nervous system of the abdomen. Hence, the 



158 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

sensibility of the nervous system is morbidly heightened, but 
its power of action lessened. At the same time, the sepa- 
ration between the nervous system of the abdomen and that 
of the brain is rendered less complete, so that certain feelings 
reach the brain, and thus affect the thoughts much more than 
in a state of health. The disturbance in the functions of the 
abdominal nervous system, produces next a weakness and 
disturbance in the digestion, which generally produces the first 
and most numerous attacks of hypochondria, from which all 
the others originate, in proportion as the morbid sympathy 
extends over the whole body. Hence, first is produced spas- 
modic contractions under the short ribs, sometimes on one 
side, sometimes on the other, sometimes in the pit of the 
stomach; torpidity of the bowels, flatulency, inflammation of 
the abdomen, want of appetite, increased pressure, and gener- 
ally disagreeable feelings after eating. In the progress of the 
disease, a slow and somewhat difficult inspiration comes on, 
indescribable anxiety, and pain and giddiness in the head. 
Also, when the stomach is empty, this organ sometimes suf- 
fers pain and sickness, and vomiting takes place. For mo- 
ments, particularly after digestion is finished, the hypochon- 
driac feels easy, well, and serene; but all at once, the old com- 
plaints seize again upon their victim. The disturbance of 
the nervous system also has, as well may be conceived, a great 
influence upon the mind, and humor of the patient. Some- 
times he is melancholy, sometimes gay to an excess. Un- 
interruptedly occupied with the state of his body, he takes 
notice of every feeling, and wishes to have every trifling pain 
explained, considering every one as a symptom of a serious 
disease. For everything he wants physic. In the hours of 
anxiety, hypochondriacs are constantly in dread of death. 
Sometimes anxiety attacks them so suddenly, that they must 
jump up, and cannot find quiet anywhere. Sometimes me- 
mory leaves them, so that they cannot think of their name. 
In the midst of the most serious conversation, nay, even of 
prayers, the most ludicrous ideas or images strike them. Oth- 
ers, all at once, feel a desire to perform the strangest actions, 



HYPOCHONDRIASIS. 159 

from which they can restrain themselves only with great 
difficulty. 

This deplorable disease may be occasioned by any circum- 
stances which disturb the functions of the abdominal nervous 
system, highten its sensitiveness, debilitate digestion, and les- 
sen the separation of the reproductive nervous system from 
the sensitive. Among the chief causes, are great exertions 
of the mind in studying, a sedentary or dissipated life, ex- 
cesses in exciting liquors, particularly coffee; also, want of 
exercise of the physical and mental powers, producing ennui. 
Hypochondria is, physically considered, not a dangerous dis- 
ease. It is true, the genuine hypochondriac believes, at least 
for six days in every week, that his hour is come. He passes 
a wretched existence, and is a real torment to his family and 
physician. 

Hypochondria can be cured but slowly. A hypochondriac 
must abstain from much physic, but the difficulty is to per- 
suade him to do so. He would often rather take ten medi- 
cines than one. He ought to avoid sensual indulgencies, but 
his irritated nerves refuse obedience to duty. He ought to 
master his feelings, but the body has become the governing 
power. He ought to take much exercise, but his indolence 
finds continual excuses for omitting it. He ought to observe 
a strict diet for years, and confidently follow the directions of 
his physician, but he is impatient to be cured immediately, 
and his most solemn promises are forgotten in a week. He 
would have ten physicians at once, not to follow their advice, 
but to quarrel with all, and to tell them that they know noth- 
ing of his case. Thus it happens that a hypochondriac is sel- 
dom entirely cured, but, after having suffered for years, he 
dies of some additional disease; or in very advanced age, when 
the irritability of the nerves is lessened, the disease still ap- 
pears. 

TREATMENT. 

It would be in vain to point out any one mode of treating 
the above complaint, as it is questionable whether the patient 



160 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

would be persuaded to pursue a regular course of treatment, 
for even one week. 

It is sufficient here to remark that the complaint is a ner- 
vous affection, affecting the whole system, to a certain extent* 
We will remark further, for the benefit of those thus afflicted^ 
that our Nerve Liniment, Vegetable Syrup, Nerve Sanative^ 
Essence of Life, and Pectoral Tincture, are all invaluable 
remedies, and, if used according to directions, and persevered 
in, will restore the nerves to strength and vigor, and a cure 
will be the result. 



HYSTERICS, 

Are, with women, nearly the same as hypochondriasis with 
men; the difference which really exists, arising from the pe- 
culiar character and constitution of women. This disease 
arises from a morbid excitement of the nervous system, and 
manifests itself by great uneasiness, unusual susceptibility, 
occasioning great trouble, often from imaginary causes, and 
affecting the sufferer even to tears. To these is added the 
sensation of a ball mounting from the abdomen, and particu- 
larly from the pit of the stomach, where the most important 
nerves concentrate, and occasioning a feeling of strangulation. 
From the greater susceptibility in the system of women, these 
affections are more universal, and appear quicker in other parts 
of the body, particularly in the muscles, than in men. Hence 
spasms of various kinds, contractions of the neck, pains in 
the head, fainting fits, palpitation of the heart, appear very 
frequently, and are sometimes so severe, that persons afflicted 
with them seem to be dying, 

These complaints were once ascribed to vapors arising from 
the stomach, and were called by that name. They were once 
very fashionable among the ladies. Women of a delicate 
habit, and whose nervous system is extremely sensible, are the 
most subject to hysterical affections; and the habit which pre- 



HYSTERICS. 161 

disposes to these attacks, is acquired by inactivity and a se- 
dentary life, grief, anxiety, and various physical disorders. 
They are readily excited, in those who are subject to them, 
by strong emotions, especially if sudden. Hysterical com- 
plaints are best prevented, by a judicious care of the moral 
and physical education of girls. Men of uncommon nervous 
sensibility, are sometimes subject to disorders not essentially 
different. 

TREATMENT. 

Much less charity has generally been extended to those af- 
fected by this complaint, than we ought to bestow. It is evi- 
dently an affection of the nervous system, and whenever that 
system is restored to sound health, the patient becomes in- 
vigorated, and enjoys good health. Our preparations for 
nervous affections are abundantly competent to master this 
disease. 

1st. The Pectoral Tincture may be taken, in small doses, 
as an alterative. 

2d. The Essence of Life, in cases of fainting, is of great 
service. 

3d. Sometimes it may be necessary to administer our 
Nerve Sanative, diluted in warm water, in two drop doses, 
twice a day. 

4th. The Nerve Liniment ought to be applied on the top 
of the head, behind the ears, and on the neck, at least once a 
day, and a plaster should be worn on the breast constantly. 

5th. If the feet be constantly cold, as is the case in some 
instances, the Stimulating Liniment should be applied to the 
bottoms of the feet once a day. 

Much attention should be paid to keeping the bowels in 
order, and the most simple diet should be adopted. 

Those few cases of this complaint which are not caused by 
other forms of disease, are treated of in another part of this 
work. 



162 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



DEPRESSED STATE OF THE MIND. 

Notwithstanding the uncharitableness of the world at 
large, for those who are afflicted with low spirits, we aver it 
to be a disease, occasioned principally by indigestion. Some 
writers believe the seat of the disease to be confined to those 
particular regions of the abdomen called hypochondriac, which 
are situated on the right and left side of the cavity, whence 
comes the name of hypochondriasis. 

The common symptoms are, acid eructations; flatulency in 
the stomach or bowels; spasmodic pains; costiveness; giddi- 
ness; dimness of sight; listlessness, and often unable to fix 
the mind on any thing which requires vigor of thought The 
mind becomes fretful, dejected, and desponding, accompanied 
with a total derangement of the nervous system. The men- 
tal feelings and peculiar ideas that haunt the imagination, and 
overwhelm the judgment, exhibit an infinite diversity. The 
wisest and best men, who have led a sedentary life, are as 
subject to the affliction, as are those of the other sex, who 
generally possess fine talents, but are thus unfortunate by rea- 
son of a general derangement of their system. 

The causes of the complaint are, severe study, protracted 
to a late hour at night, in a cold room; a sedentary life; dis- 
solute habits; excess of eating and drinking; use of mercury; 
suppression of habitual discharges, or long continued erup- 
tions; debility of the organs within the abdomen, etc. The 
symptoms vary much in different patients. Whoever leads a 
sedentary life, and neglects to keep the feet warm, is sure to 
be afflicted with some or all of the above symptoms; and as 
a preventive, we would recommend the putting of half a tea- 
spoonful of cayenne into each stocking, daily. This will 
give action to the system, and prevent much of the evil very 
properly ascribed to cold feet. 



DEPRESSION OF MIND. 163 



TREATMENT. 



The principal object is to remove obstructions, restore the 
digestive powers, and brace up the nervous system to a 
healthy action. These objects can more readily, and with 
greater certainty, be effected by the application of our exter- 
nal remedies, than by any other practice of which we have a 
knowledge. Our first object is to relieve the nervous affec- 
tion, by which all gloomy apprehensions will subside, and 
the patient's confidence in a cure will be much strengthened. 

1st. Apply the Liniment for Nervous Affections on the top 
of the head, on the neck, the whole length of the spine, the 
inside of the arms, thighs, and legs; and if there be palpita- 
tions, apply the same over the region of the breast; at the 
same time, apply the Stimulating Liniment, on plasters, to 
the bottoms of the feet. This ought to be regularly repeated 
two or three times a day, until the nervous system is relieved. 
In addition to the above, the patient ought to take the Nerve 
Sanative and Essence of Life. 

2d. Apply the Stimulating Liniment, on a plaster, to the 
breast; renew it once or twice a day, as the urgency of the 
case may require. This application will regulate the stomach 
with more certainty than the exhibition of an emetic, as re- 
lief is gained without any of the evil consequences generally 
attendant, in such cases, by the exhibition of large doses of 
strong medicine internally. Sometimes we find much advan- 
tage in giving the Diaphoretic Drops. Apply bricks to the 
feet, and cause a free perspiration. In some cases, the Pecto- 
ral Tincture taken in three drop doses, on loaf sugar, has 
produced a salutary effect; and in a very few instances have 
we found it necessary to increase the dose to twenty drops, so 
as to cause vomiting. The Vegetable Syrup is an excellent 
remedy. The washing off the surface of the body in soap 
suds and weak lye, or salt and water, will be found advan- 
tageous in this complaint. We also make free use of tonic 
bitters — eat easily digested food — exercise on horseback is 
serviceable — and keep from exposures to a moist atmosphere. 



CHAP. V. 



DIARRHEA, OR LOOSENESS, 

Diarrhea consists in copious discharges of feculent mat- 
ter by stool, accompanied by griping, and often, at first, by 
slight vomiting, but unattended either by inflammation, fever, 
or contagion. The presence of these, with tenesmus, (a con- 
tinual inclination to go to stool without a discharge,) and an 
evacuation of blood and purulent mucus, with hardened balls 
or scybala instead of natural faeces, which prevail in dysen- 
tery, will always enable the practitioner readily to distinguish 
the two diseases from each other. It is to be distinguished 
from cholera morbus by the discharges not being very bilious, 
and also by there being no vomiting of bile. 

In diarrhea, there is evidently a morbid increase of the 
peristaltic motion, which morbid increase is the effect of a 
variety of causes, applied either to the body in general, or 
acting solely on the parts affected. Of the former, may be 
noticed the application of cold to the surface of the body, so 
as to give a check to perspiration, and thereby determine the 
flow of blood more to the interior parts; as likewise passions 
of the mind, and certain diseases, as dentition, retrocedent 
gout, and rheumatism, fever, etc. Of the latter, may be enu- 
merated, first, matters taken into the stomach, and acting 
either from their quantity, as in the case of overcharging the 
organ; or from their nature, on the state of the stomach it- 
self, producing fermentation, as acid fruits, or oily and putrid 
substances, and purgative medicines. Secondly, matters gene- 
rated in the body, and thrown into the intestines; acrid bile, 
pancreatic juice, purulent matter, water in drops} r , worms, 
etc. Thirdly, mucous matter, poured from the mucous folli- 



166 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

cles of the intestines themselves, in consequence of an in- 
creased excretion, and producing what is known by the name 
diarrhea mucosa (from mucus). In diarrhea, each discharge 
is usually preceded by a murmuring noise and flatulence in 
the intestines, together with a sense of weight and uneasiness 
in the lower part of the belly; which cease on the discharge 
taking place, but are again renewed before the one which is to 
succeed ensues. 

The appearance of the stools is various; sometimes they 
are thinner than natural, from the admixture of a larger quan- 
tity of fluid, poured out by the exhalents of the intestines, 
than common; sometimes they are slimy, and sometimes they 
are green, when first discharged; sometimes they are evacu- 
ated of a yellow color, but become green on exposure to the 
air; and now and then they are of a dark brown color, and 
very fetid. 

As the disease advances, the stomach becomes affected, and 
sickness, nausea, and vomiting, occasionally prevail; the coun- 
tenance turns pale, and the skin becomes dry and rigid. If 
it continue for any length of time, universal emaciation, 
dropsy of the lower extremities, and relaxation of every part, 
ensue, together with a great loss of strength. Dissection in 
cases of diarrhea which have terminated fatally, have shown, 
that where it prevailed as a primary disease, ulceration of 
some portion of the intestines is . the morbid change most 
usually met with; in which cases, the inner membrane is often 
abraded for a considerable extent, and its muscular coat laid 
bare. They have likewise shown, that the follicular glands 
are the most frequent seat of such ulcerations, and that they 
frequently become cancerous, and assume the same appearance 
as scirrhus and cancer in other parts. 

TREATMENT. 

In all cases of the above disease, the Cholera Morbus Lini- 
ment is an invaluable remedy. If the patient be severely at- 
tacked, let the Liniment first be used on the abdominal region, 
after which, spread a flannel cloth over the same, and use a 



CHOLERA MORBUS,. 167 

warm flat-iron gently over the belly: this course will impart 
warmth, and greatly facilitate the absorption of the Liniment; 
and just so soon as it is absorbed, temporary relief will be 
gained. In cases where discharges of blood occur, a tea made 
of smart weed, administered to the patient warm, will be of 
service. If the evacuations be hard and in little balls, a gen- 
tle cathartic may be given. If flatulency ensue, take freely 
of our Essence of Life. If the stomach be nauseated, apply 
very freely to the same our Stimulating Liniment; after 
which the Pectoral Tincture may be taken in nauseating 
doses, to cause vomiting. 



CHOLERA MORBUS. 

Cholera Morbus is a purging and vomiting of bile, at- 
tended with anxiety, painful gripings, spasms of the abdomi- 
nal muscles, and those of the calves of the legs. There are 
two species of this genus: 1. Cholera spontanea, which 
happens, in hot seasons, without any manifest cause. 2. 
Cholera accidentalis, which occurs after the use of food that 
digests slowly, and irritates. In warm climates it is met with 
at all seasons of the year, and its occurrence is very frequent; 
but in England, and other cold climates, it is most prevalent 
in the middle of summer, particularly in the month of Au- 
gust; and the violence of the disease has usually been greater 
in proportion to the intenseness of the heat. 

It usually comes on with soreness, pain, distention, and 
flatulency in the stomach and intestines, succeeded quickly by 
a severe and frequent vomiting, and purging of bilious matter, 
heat, thirst, a hurried respiration, and frequent, but weak and 
fluttering pulse. When the disease is not violent, these symp- 
toms, after continuing for a day or two, cease gradually^ leav- 
ing the patient in a debilitated and exhausted state; but where 
the disease proceeds with much violence, great depression 
of strength ensues, with cold, clammy sweats, considerable 
anxiety, a hurried and short respiration, and hiccoughs, with 



168 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

a sinking and irregularity of the pulse, which quickly termi- 
nate in death, an event that not unfrequently happens within 
the space of twenty-four hours. 

The appearances generally observed on dissection, are a 
quantity of bilious matter in the primse vise; the ducts of the 
liver relaxed and distended. Several of the viscera have been 
found, in some cases, displaced, probably by the violent vo- 
miting. In the early period of the disease, when the strength 
is not much exhausted, the object is to lessen the irritation, 
and facilitate the discharge of the bile, by tepid demulcent 
liquids, frequently administered. It will likewise be useful 
to procure a determination to the surface, by fomentations of 
the abdomen, by the foot bath, or even the warm bath. When 
the urgent symptoms are relieved, the strength must be re- 
stored by gentle tonics, as the aromatic bitters, calumba, and 
the like, with a light nutritious diet: strong toast and water 
is the best drink. Exposure to cold must be carefully avoid- 
ed. The abdomen and the feet, particularly, must be kept 
warm, and great attention is necessary to regulate the bowels, 
and procure a regular discharge of bile, lest a relapse should 
happen. It will also be proper to examine the state of the 
abdomen, whether pressure gives pain at any part, because 
inflammation in the primse vias is very liable to supervene, 
often in an insidious manner. 

TREATMENT. 

Cholera Morbus has uniformly been successfully treated in 
the following manner, varying the treatment as the circum- 
stances of the case may require. 

1st. Apply our preparations for fever, and cause a free per- 
spiration therewith. At the same time, apply the Cholera 
Morbus Liniment on the abdomen, and low on the back — re- 
peat until relief be gained. 

2d. If the patient be troubled with flatulency, let there be 
repeated doses of the Essence of Life administered. 

3d. Bathe the feet and legs in warm water, wipe dry, and 
apply the Liniment to them freely. 



colic. 169 

4th. If relief be not directly obtained, immerse the patient 
in a saline bath. 

5th. If the stomach remain irritable, let the Stimulating 
Liniment be applied to the pit of the stomach, and continue 
friction thereto for a considerable length of time, for just so 
soon as the Liniment is absorbed, the irritation of the stomach 
will subside. 

6th. Should there be an appearance of inflammation of the 
bowels, a most powerful and continued application, for a long 
time must be applied thereto, with friction of the hand. 

7th. Let the patient be supported by the use of tonics. The 
diet should be simple, and of easy digestion, and exposures 
to the influence of sudden cold should be avoided. 

The course above recommended, uniformly reduces the 
spasmodic affections, causes a free perspiration, determines 
the disease to the surface of the body, causes a reaction to take 
place, and in a very short time the patient is out of danger. 

COLIC. 



The appellation of colic is commonly given to all pains 
in the abdomen, almost indiscriminately; but, from the differ- 
ent causes and circumstances of this disorder, it is differently 
denominated. When the pain is accompanied with a vomit- 
ing of bile, or with obstinate costiveness, it is called a bilious 
colic; if flatulency cause the pain, that is, if attended with 
temporary distention, relieved by the discharge of wind, it 
takes the name of flatulent or ivindy colic; when accom- 
panied with heat and inflammation, it takes the name of in- 
flammatory colic. When this disease arises to a violent 
hight, and is attended with obstinate costiveness, and an eva- 
cuation of faeces by the mouth, it is called passio iliaca, or 
iliac passion. Doctor Cullen enumerates seven species of 
colic. One of the most important is the colica pietonum. 
This is called, from the places where it is endemial, the 
Poiclou, the Surinani, the Devonshire colic; from its vic- 
22 



170 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

tims, the plumbers' and the painters' colic; from its symp- 
toms, the dry belly-ache, the nervous and spasmodic colic. 
It has been attributed to the poison of lead, and this is un- 
doubtedly the cause, when it occurs to glaziers, painters, and 
those employed in lead works; but though this is one, it is 
by no means the only cause. In Devonshire, it certainl)' 
more often arises from the early cider, made of harsh, unripe 
fruit; and in the West Indies, from new rum. 

The characteristics of this disease, are obstinate costiveness, 
with a vomiting of an acrid or porraceous bile, pains about 
the region of the navel, shooting from thence to each side, 
with excessive violence, strong convulsive spasms in the in- 
testines, and a tendency to a paralysis of the extremities. It 
is occasioned by long-continued costiveness; by an accumula- 
tion of acrid bile; by cold, applied either to the extremities, 
or to the belly itself; by a free use cf unripe fruits, and by 
great irregularity in the mode of living. From its occurring 
frequently in Devonshire, and other cider countries, it has 
been supposed to arise from an impregnation of lead received 
into the stomach; but this seems to be a mistake, as it is a 
very prevalent disease in the West Indies likewise, where no 
cider is made, and where there is only a very small quantity 
of lead in the mills employed to extract the juice from the 
sugar canes. One or other of the causes just enumerated, may 
justly be said always to give rise to this species of colic. 

The dry belly-ache is always attended with some degree of 
danger, which is in proportion to the violence of the symp- 
toms, and the duration of the disease. Even when it does 
not prove fatal, it is too apt to terminate in palsy, and to leave 
behind it, contractions of the hands and feet, with an inabili- 
ty in their muscles, to perform their office; and in this mise- 
rable state of existence, the patient lingers out many wretched 
years. 

TREATMENT. 

The colic has been treated, in all its various forms, by our 
remedies, with the most decided success. Our medicines are 



DYSENTERY. 171 

peculiarly adapted to meet all the exigencies which occur in 
this disease. 

If the patient be threatened with inflammation in the bow- 
els, our Stimulating Liniment is a powerful remedy. 

If flatulency supervene, the Essence of Life may be ad- 
ministered. 

In cases of spasms, and nervous affections, the Nerve Sana- 
ative and Nerve Liniment will afford relief. 

The bilious affection may be removed, by nauseating doses 
of the Pectoral Tincture. 

For costiveness, gentle cathartics may be administered. 

In very severe cases, it is always more safe to apply the 
Liniment over the whole body at first, and administer Dia- 
phoretic Drops, and cause a profuse perspiration; and just so 
soon as the sweating process commences, the patient is out of 
danger. 

DYSENTERY. 



This disease is said to be a contagious fever, the distinctive 
features of which are, frequent, griping stools; tenesmus; 
stools chiefly mucus, sometimes mixed with blood, the natural 
faeces being retained, or voided in small, compact, hard sub- 
stances, attended by loss of appetite, and nausea. 

It occurs chiefly in summer and autumn, and is often occa- 
sioned by moisture succeeding quickly intense heat or great 
drought, whereby the perspiration is suddenly checked, and a 
determination made to the intestines. It is also occasioned 
by unwholesome and putrid food, and by noxious exhalations 
and vapors; hence it makes its appearance in armies encamp- 
ed in the neighborhood of low and marshy grounds, and 
proves highly destructive; but the cause which most usually 
gives rise to it, is said to be a specific contagion; and if it once 
makes its appearance where large numbers of people are col- 
lected together, it frequently spreads with great rapidity. A 
peculiar state of the atmosphere sometimes gives rise to the 



172 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

dysentery, in which case it prevails epidemically. It gene- 
rally occurs about the time of the autumnal intermittent and 
remittent fevers, and with them it is often complicated. It is 
more prevalent in warm, than in cold climates, and in the 
rainy seasons of the year it frequently breaks out and be- 
comes fatal, in the West Indies. 

An attack of dysentery is sometimes preceded by loss of 
appetite, costiveness, flatulency, sickness at the stomach and 
vomiting, and comes on with chills, succeeded by heat in the 
skin and frequency of the pulse. These symptoms are gene- 
rally the forerunners of griping, and increased evacuations, 
which afterwards occur. More or less fever usually attends 
the symptoms which have been described, throughout the 
whole disease, when there is an inclination to a fatal ter- 
mination, and is either of an inflammatory or putrid tendency. 
In some cases, the febrile state entirely disappears after a time, 
while the proper dysenteric symptoms will be of long dura- 
tion: hence the distinction into acute and chronic dysentery. 
When the symptoms run high, produce great loss of strength, 
and are accompanied with a putrid tendency and a fetid and 
involuntary discharge, the disease often terminates fatally in 
the course of a few days. But when they are more moderate, 
it is often protracted to a considerable length of time, and is 
removed by a gentle perspiration diffused equally over the 
whole body; the fever, thirst, and griping, cease, and the 
stools become of a natural color and consistence. When the 
disease is of long standing, and becomes habitual, it seldom 
admits of a cure; and in consumptive cases, and persons 
whose constitutions are broken down, it almost always proves 
fatal. 

TREATMENT. 

In no disease whatever, is the saline bath of more import- 
ance, than in the dysentery; it ought to be made use of fre- 
quently; after which, make a full application of the Fever 
Liniment over the body, taking at the same time Diaphoretic 
Drops, and applying heat sufficient to produce a free perspira- 



DYSENTERY. 173 

tion. The saline bath will arrest all the inflammatory symp- 
toms. A free use of the Liniment for Cholera Morbus, over 
the abdominal region, will cause a sudden reaction in that re- 
gion, arrest the dysenteric symptoms, and readily relieve the 
patient from pain, and also from the uncomfortable sensation 
which usually attends this complaint in the region of the anus. 
After the disease is arrested, gentle physic and tonics may be 
resorted to, in order to perfect a cure. 

Sometimes smart-weed tea has proven beneficial in this 
complaint. 



CHAP, VI 



STONE, OR CALCULUS; 

Every hard concretion, not bony, formed in the body of 
animals. The article Calculus treats of the variety and 
chimical composition of these concretions. We shall add 
here a few words respecting their probable origin, and the 
cause of this disease, in man. 

These concretions originate, immediately, in a disturbance 
of the secretions; which disturbance may, perhaps, in most 
cases, be caused by a disordered condition of the juices, par- 
ticularly of the blood, and a want of due assimilation. This 
may be supposed, because, in the complaints of the gravel and 
the gout, which frequently interchange, the digestion almost 
always suffers, and acid is found in the primse vise; also, be- 
cause cattle often have biliary calculi in the spring, which 
disappear after they have fed for a time on green fodder. Cal- 
culi form themselves in those secreted fluids which contain 
many ingredients, and which have an inclination to assume a 
solid form, especially in such as are collected in particular re- 
ceptacles (the gall bladder, and urinary bladder); and they 
have even been found in the salivary ducts. They consist of 
a nucleus and several surrounding coats, similar or various in 
their nature. Their component parts vary, according to the 
fluid in which they have been formed. They obstruct the 
passages, and prevent the discharge of the secreted fluids; 
they irritate the vessels in which they are contained, and 
thereby cause convulsions, pains, inflammations, and suppura- 
tions; they also affect, indirectly, other organs; namely: — the 
stomach, producing sickness and vomiting; the stones in the 



176 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

bladder occasion itching in the glands of the genitals, pains in 
the loins, testicles, etc. 

The most common calculi are, 1st, biliary calculi, often 
found in great numbers in the bile, sometimes in the liver, 
from the size of a pea to that of a hazel nut. They are dark 
brown, black, and usually polished on several parts of the sur- 
face, and generally occasion disease only when they move, and 
are very jagged. But in such cases, violent pains exist, 
which extend from the right side to the center of the body. 
They also sometimes cause periodical and obstinate jaundice. 
The convulsions and pains which they occasion, frequently 
require the application of particular medicines, to relieve the 
immediate suffering, besides those directed against the disease 
itself. The patient is often relieved from them by vomiting, 
or by stool. 

2d. Urinary calculi are sometimes a kind of coarse sand, 
called gravel, which sinks immediately to the bottom of the 
vessel in which the urine is left. Sometimes they are real 
stones, of the size of a pea, of a walnut, or even of the fist. 
They are found either about the kidneys, and there cause 
pains, inflammation, and suppuration, or in the pelvis of the 
kidneys, In this case, from time to time, single stones pass 
into the bladder, with violent pains extending from the region 
of the kidneys downward or backward, and are carried off 
with the urine; or they originate in the bladder itself, where 
they often acquire a very considerable size. They cause pains 
in the region of the bladder, in the perinaeum, and great 
suffering during the discharges of the urine. It often happens 
that this can be discharged only in certain positions, and drop 
by drop, with great pain; is slimy, smells offensively, and is 
mixed with blood and gravel. The examination by the cathe- 
ter affords the most certain information respecting the exist- 
ence of calculi, if, as sometimes happens, the stone does not 
lie inclosed (encysted) in a certain part of the bladder. To 
destroy urinary stones, internal means have been recom- 
mended; but they are little to be depended upon. If the 
stone in the bladder increases so much that it prevents entire- 



GRAVEL AND STONE. 177 

ly the discharge of the urine, it is necessary to remove it by 
the knife (lithotomy), or by breaking it to pieces in the blad- 
der (lithotrity). The operation of lithotomy may be per- 
formed in four different ways: 1st. By the apparatus minor, 
an operation described by Celsus, and very simple, requiring 
few instruments; whence the name. The operator introduces 
his middle finger and fore finger up the anus, and endeavors 
to bring the stone towards the neck of the bladder. He then 
cuts on the left side of the perinasum, directly on the stone. 
2d. In the high operation, the bladder is opened on the oppo- 
site side, over the pubes. 3d. When the apparatus major is 
applied, the urethra is widened so much that forceps can be 
introduced, and the stone extracted. The name of apparatus 
major is used, on account of the number of instruments re- 
quired. 4th. The lateral operation is generally considered as 
the safest and most effectual, and is the most common. Its 
object is to divide that part of the urethra which suffered ex- 
tremely in the application of the apparatus major, from the 
means used to distend it; and as the lower side of the urethra 
cannot be divided far enough without the rectum being 
wounded, the cut is directed sideways: this is the reason of 
the name. Lately, the operation of cutting the bladder 
through the rectum, has been introduced. 



LITHIASIS — GRAVEL AND STONE 



We have many lengthy works on the pathology of this 
disease, by Eberle, Thomas, etc. But according to Leroy of 
Paris, he seems to differ somewhat from those medical gen- 
tlemen. He says:— -"It is a general principle, that when the 
serosity is produced by matters excessively corrupted, it is 
always burning, or extremely heating. It is with that char- 
acter it acts in the formation of the stone or gravel; it is, also, 
because those matters, in certain individuals, are composed of 
parts passive of stony or gravelly concretions, that there 
23 



178 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

united in the substance of the kidney, the serosity operates 
the nealing of a saline portion of the phlegm, which it finds 
there, and converts it into a semipurulent substance. A part 
of this gravel remains sometimes in the kidneys, but more 
generally it falls down into the bladder, through the ureters. 
When there, they reunite and form the stone, which is sus- 
ceptible, with time, of acquiring bulk, more or less considera- 
ble. Sometimes several stones are formed, of different sizes, 
or if there is but one, there may be grains of sand, resembling, 
salt or candy. The stone swims upon the urine, and presents 
itself at the neck of the bladder. This viscera begins its ac- 
tion, when full, to expel the excremental fluid. The course 
is stopped by the presence of the stone upon the neck of the 
bladder; it is what produces the pains felt. These pains are 
greatly increased by the repeated strokes of the stone against 
the nervous membrane, and by the acrimony, or the excessive 
heat of that fluid, and also by the superabundance of the urine, 
produced by the partial or total suppression of its course. 

" The operation of lithotomy (the operation of cutting out 
the stone) succeeds well enough in drawing the stone out of 
the bladder; but it too often happens, that in the space of a 
year or two, another stone is formed: then another operation 
becomes necessary, and successively a third. This is natural- 
ly to be expected, since proper means had not been used to 
destroy the formative causes of that foreign body. As long 
as this measure is not taken, the same accidents will happen, 
and there will be danger at the time of the operation, or after. 
By means or cause of this complaint, the functions of the 
whole system are somewhat disordered; and before the ope- 
ration of lithotomy takes place, the patient ought to be treat- 
ed with emetics, purges, or clysters, until the system is com- 
pletely cleansed from the adulterated state of the humors, 
and until the health be so much ameliorated, that the patient 
might say he is very well, save that incommodity. I would 
recommend the excellence of the operation of lithotomy. 

" The benefit derived from the course of treatment above 
recommended, previous to the operation of lithotomy, is the 



GRAVEL AND STONE. 179 

absence of fever, after the operation; the wound is not apt to 
come to suppuration, and is easily healed. After the opera- 
tion of lithotomy, if the wound does not seem to heal, as it 
does when simple and recent, on a person in good health; if 
it becomes inflamed; if it runs much, and a long time; if fear 
is entertained that it may become ulcerated; if the health of 
the patient decreases; if the natural functions are out of order; 
in a word, if he is not, according to the picture of health, 
persevering in the above mentioned plan, cleansing the sys- 
tem is indispensably necessary. It is by strictly observing 
the appearance of the wound, that the attendant physician 
may know, whether he must, from time to time, repeat the 
course of cleansing the system. After the system is cleansed, 
we will give some remedies which may obviate the necessity 
of lithotomy; or I would recommend a trial, perad venture a 
cure may be performed by those simple remedies, without 
going through the painful operation. Take of weak lye, 
made from the hickory bark or wood; it must not be so strong 
as to irritate the mouth or throat, to cause them to be sore. 
For a dose, take one half gill, three times a day, before eating. 
The same must be injected into the bladder, by means of an 
instrument for that purpose, when the passage is stopped. In 
one hour, if this is not thrown off as urine, it must be pumped 
or drawn off, by means of an instrument or pump for that 
purpose, and then inject half a gill of sweet oil, in order to 
keep down inflammation, if any appears. This course, if per- 
severed in, has seldom or never failed of giving relief." 

It has been said by some, who were affected with the gravel 
and stone, that they have been cured by taking about a thim- 
ble full of fine gravel or sand from a boiling spring, three 
times a day, and using a tea of dwarf elder. Also, the ex- 
pressed juice of smart weed, in doses of one table-spoonful, 
three times a day; this has been recommended by an Indian 
to a patient, when he was given up by the ph} sician who 
attended on him, and when all remedies except lithotomy, 
had failed. Also, great relief has been obtained from the fol- 
lowing : — take one pint of water-melon seeds, one pint of 



180 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

burdock roots cut fine, half a pint of parsley seed, half a pint 
of sunflower seed, boiled in two quarts of water, down to one 
half. For a dose, take one half gill, three times a day. Or 
take scrub grass or rushes, make a strong tea, and drink free- 
ly. This has been known to perfect a cure, when the ordi- 
nary means had failed. Another; take one part of master- 
wort; five parts queen of the meadow; three parts Indian 
snake root; two parts smart weed — make a strong decoction, 
and drink freely three or four times a day. 



CHAP. VII. 
HEMOPTYSIS, OR SPITTING OF BLOOD, 

This disease generally causes great alarm to the patient? 
and also to those around him. Accordiug to Cullen, it is char- 
acterized by coughing up florid or frothy matter, preceded 
usually, by heat or pain in the chest, irritation in the larynx, 
(or cavity behind the tongue,) and a saltish taste in the mouth. 

This disease arises from five causes : 

1st. From the fullness of the vessels. 

2d. From some external violence. 

3d. From ulcers corroding the small vessels. 

4th. From calculus (or gritty) matter in the lungs. 

5th. From the suppression of some customary evacuation. 

This disease is readily to be distinguished from hemateme- 
sis (or vomiting of blood); for in vomiting of blood, it is 
thrown out in large quantities, and of a darker color, and 
more grumus, and mixed with the contents of the stomach; 
whereas, blood, proceeding from the lungs, is usually small 
in quantity, of a florid or fresh red color, and mixed with a 
little frothy mucus only. Spitting of blood arises, most usu- 
ally, between the ages sixteen and twenty-five, and may be 
occasioned by any violent exertion, either in running, jump- 
ing, wrestling, singing loud, or blowing wind instruments, as 
likewise by wounds, plethora or full habit, weak vessels, hectic 
fever, coughs, irregular living, excessive drinking, or a sup- 
pression of some accustomed discharge, such as the menstrual 
or hemorrhoidal. Spitting of blood is not, however, always 
to be considered as a primary disease. It is often only a 
symptom; and in some disorders, such as pleurisies, peripneu- 
monies (or inflammation in the lungs,) and in many fevers 3 



182 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

often arises, and is the presage of a favorable termination. 
Sometimes it is preceded, as has been already observed, by a 
sense of weight and oppression at the chest, a dry tickling 
cough, and some slight difficulty of breathing. Sometimes it 
is ushered in with shiverings, coldness at the extremities, 
pains in the back and loins, flatulency, costiveness, and lassi- 
tude. 

The blood which is spit up, is generally thin, and of a florid 
red color, but sometimes is thick, and of a dark and flat cast. 
Nothing, however, can be inferred from this circumstance, 
but that the blood has lain a longer or shorter time in the 
breast, before it was discharged. 

An hemoptoe, or spitting of blood, is not attended with 
danger, where no symptoms of pulmonary consumption have 
preceded or accompanied the discharge, or where it leaves 
behind no cough, dyspnoea, or other affections of the lungs; 
nor is it dangerous in a strong, healthy person, of a sound 
constitution ; but when it attacks persons of a weak, lax fibre, 
and delicate habit, it may be difficult to remove it. It seldom 
takes place to such a degree, as to prove at once fatal; but 
when it does, the effusion is from some large vessel. The 
danger, therefore, will be in proportion as the discharge of 
blood comes from a large vessel or small one. When the 
disease proves fatal, in consequence of the rupture of some 
large vessel, there is found, on dissection, a considerable quan- 
tity of clotted blood in the lungs, and there is usually more 
or less of an inflammatory appearance, at the ruptured part. 
Where the disease terminates in pulmonary consumption, the 
same morbid appearance is to be met with, as described under 
that particular head. In this hemorrhage or discharge, which 
is mostly of the active kind, such diet as will keep down in- 
flammation, must be strictly observed, particularly avoiding 
heat, muscular exertion, and agitation of the mind, and re- 
stricting the patient to a light, cooling, vegetable diet. Acid- 
ulated drink will be useful, without taking much liquid to 
quench thirst. Where the blood has been copiously dis- 
charged, but no great quantity lost already, it will be proper 



HEMORRHAGE. 183 

to attempt checking it, if the habit will allow; but where there 
has been much loss of blood, and a low pulse, this measure 
should not be attempted. 

TREATMENT. 

From whichever of the causes named in this article, the 
spitting of blood may originate, it is readily relieved by the 
use of our Vegetable Syrup and Essence of Life, and by a 
full application of our Stimulating Liniment over the whole 
body. The Liniment causes so free an action of the blood, 
as to relieve the oppressed blood-vessels. Sometimes it may 
be necessary to administer small portions of alum; and here 
let it be observed, that if the bowels become costive, it is im- 
portant to administer gentle cathartics. It is sometimes diffi- 
cult to distinguish this complaint from incipient pulmonary 
affections, to which it has a natural tendency. Whenever 
this be the case, the course of treatment recommended in con- 
sumption, will be advisable. 



HEMORRHAGE; 



A flux of blood from the vessels which contain it, whether 
proceeding from a rupture of the blood-vessels, or any other 
cause. Hemorrhages produced by mechanical causes, belong 
to surgery; those produced by internal causes, to medicine. 
The cutaneous system is rarely, and the cellular and serous 
systems are never, the seat of hemorrhages; that of the mu- 
cous membrane is the most subject to them. 

The symptoms of disease are not less various than its 
causes and its seats, and the treatment must of course be 
adapted to all the different circumstances. A hemorrhage 
from the lungs, is called hemoptysis; from the urinary organs, 
hematuria; from the stomach, hematemesis; from the nose- 
epistaxis. 



184 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



TREATMENT. 

An important object to be gained, in hemorrhage, whatever 
may be its form, is to determine the circulation of the blood 
from the weakened or affected organs; or, in other words, to 
restore an equilibrium of the circulation of the blood. This 
is effected by a general application of our Stimulating Lini- 
ment, accompanied by astringent remedies. Hemorrhage of 
the lungs is explained, and the treatment thereof, in another 
part of this work. The same remedies will apply, generally, 
with but little alterations in the application of them. 

HEMATURIA, OR VOIDING OF BLOOD 
BY URINE. 

This disease is sometimes occasioned hy falls, blows, or 
bruises, or some violent exertion, such as hard riding, and 
jumping. But it usually arises from a small stone lodged in 
the kidney or ureter, which, by its size or irregularity, wounds 
the inner surface of the part it comes in contact with; in 
which case, the blood discharged is, most usually, somewhat 
coagulated, and the urine deposits a sediment of a dark brown 
color, resembling the grounds of coffee. A discharge of blood 
by urine, when proceeding from the kidney or ureter, is com- 
monly attended with an acute pain in the back, and some dif- 
ficulty of making water; the urine which comes away first, 
being muddy, and highly colored; but towards the close of 
its appearance, when the blood comes immediately from the 
bladder, it is usually accompanied with a sense of heat, and 
pain at the bottom of the belly. The voiding of bloody urine 
is always attended with some danger, particularly when mixed 
with purulent matter. When it arises in the course of any 
malignant disease, it shows a highly putrid state of the bloody 
and always indicates a fatal termination. The appearances to 



HEMATURIA. 185 

be observed on dissection, will accord with those usually met 
with in the disease which has given rise to the complaint. 
When hematuria, or voiding of blood by urine, proceeds 
from a stone in the ureter, (the urinary canal between the 
kidney and the urinary bladder,) it is only to be cured by 
removing the cause; but as this may not always be practica- 
ble, we must then be content to moderate the symptoms, by 
giving the patient plentifully to drink of thick barley water, 
solutions of gum acacia, or a decoction of marsh mallows, 
sweetened with honey, joined with refrigerants. When 
hematuria is symptomatic of some malignant disease, as pu- 
trid fever, etc., powerful antiseptics must be given. 

TREATMENT. 

We cured a case of voiding blood by urine, in a patient of 
eighty years of age, which had been of long standing. He 
had served as a soldier in the revolution; habits rather intem- 
perate; had undergone much hardship from indigence, and 
his constitution was almost destroyed. We adopted the fol- 
lowing treatment: — 

1st. Applied a plaster of our Stimulating Liniment to his 
back, and rubbed the same on his loins and lower extremities, 
regularly, twice a day. 

2d. The Vegetable Syrup, and Essence of Life, were ad- 
ministered three times a day. 

3d. A decoction of sumach and dried peach leaves, made 
strong, was given as a common drink. 

4th. We kept his bowels regular by gentle physic. 

5th. We applied our Cerate, the length of the urethra, 
regularly, once a day. 

By this method, and by these means alone, he was relieved 
immediately, and in twelve days the complaint was subdued; 
since which (more than six months ago) he has remained in 
good health. We found no difficulty in mastering the com- 
plaint without recourse to blood-letting. 
24 



1S6 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



HEMORRHOIDS, OR PILES. 

A flux, or flow of blood. Until the time of Hippocrates, this 
word was used, conformably to its etymology, as synonymous 
with hemorrhage. It was afterwards used in a narrower sense, 
to indicate the flux of blood from the extremity of the rectum, 
and in some other cases which were considered analagous to 
it; thus we hear it applied to the flow of blood from the nos- 
trils, the mouth, the bladder, and the matrix. It is at present 
used to signify a particular affection of the rectum, although 
the disease is not always attended with a flux; in this sense, 
it is also called piles. 

Certain general causes may produce a predisposition to this 
disease; in some cases, it appears to be the effect of a heredi- 
tary disposition. In general, it manifests itself between the 
period of puberty and old age, although infants and aged peo- 
ple are not entirely exempt from its attacks. The bilious 
temperament seems to be more exposed to it than any other. 
Men are oftener afflicted with it than women, in whom it is 
sometimes produced by local causes. It often shows itself in 
subjects who pass suddenly from an. active to a sedentary life, 
or from leanness to corpulency. Any circumstance which 
produces a tendency to, or stagnation of the blood at the ex- 
tremity of the rectum, is to be reckoned among the local 
causes. The accumulation of fecal matter in the intestines; 
efforts to expel urine; the pressure produced by polypi; the 
obstruction of any of the viscera, especially of the liver; 
worms; the frequent use of hot bathing, of drastic purges, 
and particularly of aloes; long continuance in a sitting pos- 
ture; riding on horseback; pregnancy; the accumulation of 
water by ascites; — such are some of the ordinary causes of 
hemorrhoids. 

They are distinguished into several sorts, as, external, when 
apparent at the anus; internal, when concealed within the ori- 
fice; blind, or open; regular, or irregular; active, or passive; 



HEMORRHOIDS. 187 

periodical, or anomalous; etc. There is also a great differ- 
ence in the quantity of blood discharged: it is usually incon- 
siderable; but, in some cases, is so great as to threaten the life 
of the subject. The quality, color, etc., of the blood, also 
differ in different cases. The number, seat, and form of the 
hemorrhoidal tumors, likewise present a great variety of ap- 
pearances. 

When the disease is purely local, we may attempt its cure; 
but in the greatest number of cases, it is connected with some 
other affection, or with the constitution of the subject. In 
these cases, if the tumors are not troublesome on account of 
their size, or if the quantity of blood discharged is not very 
considerable, the cure may be attended with bad consequences. 
The subject should avoid violent exercises; but moderate ex- 
ercise will be found beneficial: the 'food should not be too 
stimulating or nutritious. Traveling, or an active life, should 
succeed to sedentary habits. The constipation, with which 
the subjects of this disease are liable to be affected, should be 
remedied by laxatives, or gentle purgatives. If bathing is 
used, it should be in lukewarm or cold water. Any thing 
which may be productive of a local heat, should be avoided; 
as warm seats, soft beds, too much sleep. If the sanguineous 
fluxion becomes excessive, particular care must be paid to 
regulating it. If the tumors acquire a considerable volume, 
surgical operations may become necessary. If any bad con- 
sequence result from the suppression of the hemorrhoids, care 
must be taken to give the blood the salutary direction which 
it had previously: this may be effected by the use of laxa- 
tives, baths, emetics, and fomentations. 

TREATMENT. 

In ordinary cases of piles, the application of our Pile Salve 
to, and up the anus, as far as the finger can reach, has proven 
successful, and hundreds have been cured readily by no other 
means. But when the stomach is diseased, the bowels consti- 
pated, and the patient has long suffered, tumors havirg formed 
on the anus which have proved troublesome, our course, in 



18S DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

addition to the above, has been, to apply our Stimulating Lini- 
ment to the breast, bowels, and low on the back, two or three 
times a day. We further administer our Vegetable Syrup 
and Alterative Drops; and when the Syrup is insufficient to 
regulate the bowels, we add to it, or give in other portions, 
some laxative medicine, in order to cause a regular passage. 
When the bowels have for a long time been costive, we find 
that our Laxative Liniment applied thereto, answers a better 
purpose than physic internally administered. 

By following the above directions, no one need suffer long 
from this complaint. 



CHAP. VIII 



QUINSY. 

Quinsy: cynanche laryngea, or inflammation of the larynx. 
This complaint is very apt to prove mortal, especially to chil- 
dren, if proper and speedy remedies are not resorted to. It 
is of a local nature, is acute, and of a short duration, and af- 
fects the mucous membrane of the epiglottis or rima glottidis, 
(the epiglottis, or cartilage, is at the root of the tongue, and 
falls upon the superior opening of the larynx, or windpipe; 
the rima glottidis is the opening of the larynx, or windpipe, 
where the air passes out of the lungs,) probably both these 
parts; and in which there is a high degree of inflammatory 
action, occasioning impeded deglutition, with difficult respira- 
tion. 

It is only of late that this fatal variety of sore throat has 
attracted the notice of practitioners, having been commonly 
confounded with croup. In many cases, there may, indeed, 
arise some difficulty of forming a just diagnosis; but the fol- 
lowing peculiarities may greatly assist us: In quinsy, the 
symptoms are, an uneasy sensation in the larynx; difficult and 
painful deglutition; partial swelling of the fauces; a super- 
vening and perpetually increasing difficulty of breathing, 
nearly amounting to a sense of suffocation, the voice being ex- 
tremely hoarse, or reduced to scarcely audible whispers, at- 
tended with inflammatory fever. In croup, there is a diffi- 
culty of respiration, without any swelling of the fauces, or 
painful deglutition; the expirations, especially in coughing, 
are very shrill; but the fever in this is also inflammatory. 

The usual cause of quinsy is exposure to cold, which ex- 



190 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

cites an inflammatory determination to the membrane invest- 
ing the larynx, or windpipe. It comes on with chilliness, 
succeeded by heat and fever, which are soon followed by a 
hoarseness and indistinctness of voice, laborious respiration, 
and pain, or, as it were, a stricture in the throat, threatening 
suffocation; the pulse quick and feeble; the eyes suffused with 
blood, and somewhat protruding; the countenance has a livid 
or swollen appearance; the tongue is furred; the tonsils, uvula, 
and pharynx, presenting a dark red appearance on inspection, 
and any attempt to swallow is attended with difficulty, and 
succeeded by excruciating pain. If the symptoms are not 
properly attended to, and subdued by an immediate applica- 
tion of active and proper means, the patient is destroyed by 
suffocation. 

The morbid appearances observed on dissection of those 
who have died of this complaint, are as follows: The mucous 
membrane investing the epiglottis and margin of the glottis, 
is inflamed; serum is infused under it, or coagulated lymph 
on its external surface, by which the rima glottidis, or upper 
part of the windpipe, becomes narrowed, or actually closed. 
Sometimes there has been perceived an accumulation of mu- 
cus in the cells of the lungs, with a slight effusion of serum 
into their reticular texture. In some instances, the pleura has 
been found partially adhered, with more fluid in the cavities 
than is natural. To control and manage the disease with suc- 
cess, a timely and active employment of an appropriate treat- 
ment, is obviously necessary; and this must be directed to the 
subduing the local inflammation as quickly as possible. It 
frequently happens, that the stomach and bowels of patients 
affected with inflammation, are in a foul state; and in such in- 
stances, purgatives and emetics operate with peculiar benefit. 
When quinsy (inflamed or sore throat) first appears, a few 
applications of pounded onions, or garlic, has finally removed 
the disease, by giving some cathartic medicine to carry it off. 
When the glands and fauces of the mouth are much swelled 
and have an inflammatory appearance, and the patient feels 
great inconvenience in taking medicine by way of the ali- 



CATARRH. 191 

mentary canal, as it often happens with children, prompt at- 
tention must be paid to the cathartic injections. Frequently, 
suppuration takes place, and a copious discharge*bf matter is 
thrown up by a violent fit of coughing, produced by an effort 
at deglutition. When suppuration exists, it might be advisa- 
ble to excite vomiting, that the abscess may be ruptured, and 
the matter discharged by the mouth, as expeditiously as pos- 
sible, and thereby prevent suffocation. 

TREATMENT. 

As at the first appearance of quinsy, the disease is princi- 
pally situated in the neck and throat, relief is almost instan- 
taneously given by an application of our Cough Liniment 
thereto, with warmth. After the Liniment is applied, wrap 
several thicknesses of flannel round the neck, and make a free 
use of the Stimulating Liniment to the bottoms of the feet 
and palms of the hands. In fact, an application over the 
whole body, causing free perspiration, will be found of essen- 
tial advantage; at the same time, give the Pectoral Tincture, 
in portions which shall cause vomiting, and afterwards in 
small doses, as an expectorant. The sudden and sure relief 
which these remedies impart, will render venesection unne- 
cessary: in fact, we would avoid the practice, by all means; 
as, just in proportion that the patient sustains a loss of blood, 
in the same proportion his strength will be diminished. Some- 
times, in extreme cases, the saline bath will aid in affording 
relief. 

CATARRH. 



Catarrh; an increased secretion of mucus from the mem- 
branes of the nose, fauces and bronchia, accompanied by fever, 
and attending with sneezing, cough, thirst, lassitude, and want 
of appetite. 

There are two species of catarrh, viz: catarrhus a f rigor e, 
which is very common, and is called a cold in the head: and 



192 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

catarrhus a contagio, the influenza, or epidemic catarrh, 
which sometimes attacks a whole city. Catarrh is also symp- 
tomatic of several other diseases. It is seldom fatal, except 
in scrofulous habits, by laying the foundation of phthisis; or 
where it is aggravated by improper treatment, or repeated 
exposure to cold, into some degree of peripneumony; when 
there is hazard of the patient, particularly if advanced in life, 
being suffocated by the copious effusion of viscid matter into 
the air-passages. The epidemic is generally, but not invaria- 
bly, more severe than the common form of the disease. The 
latter is usually left to subside spontaneously, which will 
commonly happen in a few days. 

The bowels must be kept regular, and diaphoretics employ- 
ed, with demulcents and pectorals, to quiet the cough. When 
the disease hangs about the patient, in a chronic form, gentle 
tonics and expectorants are required. In the epidemic ca- 
tarrh, more active evacuations are often required, the lungs 
being more seriously affected; but though these should be 
promptly employed, they must not be carried too far, the dis- 
ease being apt to assume the typhoid character, in its pro- 
gress; and as the chief danger appears to be, that suffocation 
may happen, from the cause previously mentioned, it is espe- 
cially important to promote expectoration. 

TREATMENT. 

In common cases of catarrh, when the head, neck, and 
throat only are affected, sometimes relief is obtained by an ap- 
plication of our Stimulating Liniment on the top of the head, 
behind the ears, and in the ears, on the back of the neck, and 
on the throat. But when the disease is more general, we, 
in addition, apply our Cough Liniment to the breast, and 
Stimulating Liniment to the feet, with warmth thereto. We 
also give the Pectoral Tincture, in doses to create vomiting, 
and after the stomach is emptied, it may be administered in 
small doses, as an expectorant. If there be pains in the chest 
of a chronic form, the Essence of Life may be given, together 



HOOPING-COUGH. 193 

with tonics and expectorants, and wear a plaster spread with 
the Stimulating Liniment, on the breast. If the disease as- 
sume an epidemic character, the most active evacuents ought 
to be administered, in addition to a full application of our 
remedies for fever. 

With this course of treatment, no fears of suffocation need 
be apprehended, as, by calling into requisition all the avenues 
of evacuation, the system is just as sure of being immediately 
relieved, as that the means are applied. 

HOOPING-COUGH. 



Hooping-Cough; a disease known by a convulsive, strang- 
ling cough, with hooping, returning by fits, usually terminat- 
ed by vomiting. It is contagious. Children are most com- 
monly the subjects of it, and it seems to depend on a specific 
contagion, which affects them but once in their life. The 
disease being once produced, the fits of coughing are often 
repeated, without any evident cause; but, in many cases, the 
contagion may be considered as only giving the predispo- 
sition, and the frequency of the fits may depend upon various 
exciting causes, such as violent exercise, a full meal, the hav- 
ing taken food of difficult digestion, and irritation of the 
lungs by dust, smoke, or disagreeable odors. Emotions of 
the mind, may likewise prove an exciting cause. Its proxi- 
mate or immediate cause, seems to be a viscid matter or 
phlegm, lodged about the bronchia, trachea, and fauces, which 
sticks so close, as to be expectorated with the greatest diffi- 
culty. 

The hooping-cough usually comes on with a difficulty of 
breathing, some degree of thirst, a quick pulse, and other 
slight febrile symptoms, which are succeeded by a hoarse- 
ness, cough, and difficulty of expectoration. These symp- 
toms continue, perhaps, for a fortnight or more, at the end of 
which time, the disease puts on its peculiar and characteristic 
form, and is more evident as the cough becomes convulsive, 
25 



194 DISEASE AND ITS, TREATMENT. 

and is attended with a sound, which has been called a hoop. 
The coughing continues, till either a quantity of mucus is 
thrown up from the lungs, or the contents of the stomach are 
evacuated by vomiting. On the first coming on of the dis- 
ease, there is little or no expectoration, or, if any, it consists 
only of thin mucus; and, as long as this is the case, the fits of 
coughing are frequent, and of considerable duration; but, on 
the expectoration becoming free and copious, the fits of cough- 
ing are less frequent, as well as of shorter duration. 

The disease, having arrived at its hight, usually continues 
for some weeks longer, and at length goes off gradually. In 
some cases, it is, however, protracted for several months, or 
even a year. It is seldom fatal, except in very young chil- 
dren, who are always likely to suffer more from it, than those 
of a more advanced age. The danger seems, indeed, always 
to be in proportion to the youth of the person; and the degree 
of fever and difficulty of breathing, which accompanies the 
disease, as likewise the state of debility which prevails. 

TREATMENT. 

We apply our Cough or Stimulating Liniment freely to 
the neck and stomach, two or three times a day, and cover 
the parts, to keep them from the influences of the cold ; at 
the same time, the Pectoral Drops are administered, as an ex- 
pectorant, four or five times in twenty-four hours. 

If febrile symptoms appear, our fever preparations may be 
applied once or twice, which will remove these symptoms. 

It has been supposed by many, that this disorder could not 
be cured until it had run a considerable length of time. No- 
thing is farther from the fact. We have uniformly arrested 
the complaint, in one or two days after our first application. 

RUBEOLA, OR MEASLES. 



Measles, according the Cullen, are known by a hot fever, 
hoarseness, dry cough, sneezing, and drowsiness; about the 



MEASLES. 195 

fourth day, eruptions, or small red points, discernable by the 
touch, which, after three days, end in mealy desquamation. 
In addition to the symptoms already related, it is remarkable 
that the eyes and eyelids always show the presence of this 
disease, being somewhat inflamed, and suffused with tears. 
The fever continues through the whole progress of the dis- 
ease. 

The measles may prevail at all seasons of the year, as an 
epidemic, but the middle of the winter is the time they are 
most prevalent; and they attack persons of all ages, but chil- 
dren are most liable to them. They prove most unfavorable 
to such as are of a plethoric habit. Like the small pox, they 
never affect persons but once in their lives. The contagion 
appears to be of a specific nature. The eruption is usually 
preceded by a general uneasiness, dullness, and shivering; 
pain in the head, in grown persons, but in children, a heavi- 
ness and soreness in the throat; sickness and vomiting, with 
other affections, such as happen in most fevers. But the chief 
characteristic symptoms are a heaviness about the eyes, with 
swellings, inflammation, and a defluxion of sharp tears, and 
great acuteness of sensation, in the eyes, so that they cannot 
bear the light without pain, together with a discharge of such 
serous humor from the nostrils, as to produce sneezing. The 
heat and other febrile symptoms increase very rapidly, to 
which succeeds a frequent and dry cough, a stuffing, great 
oppression, and oftentimes, retching to vomit, with violent 
pains in the loins, and sometimes a looseness. At other times 
there is great sweating, the tongue foul and white, the thirst 
very great, and, in general, the fever runs much higher than 
in the milder sort of the regular small pox. The eruptions 
appear about the fourth or fifth day, and sometimes at the end 
of the third. On the third or fourth day from their first ap- 
pearance, the redness diminishes, the spots, or very small 
papulae, dry up, the cuticle peels off, and is replaced by a new 
one. The symptoms do not go off on the eruption, as in the 
small pox, except the vomiting. The cough and headache 
continue, with weakness and defluxion in the eyes, and a 



196 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

considerable degree of fever. On the tenth or eleventh day 
no trace of redness is to be found, but the skin assumes its 
wonted appearance; yet, without there have been some con- 
siderable evacuations, either by the skin, or by vomiting, the 
patient will hardly recover strength, but the cough will con- 
tinue, and the fever return with new violence, bringing on 
great distress and danger. 

In the more alarming cases, spasms of the limbs, subsultus- 
(or twitching of the tendons,) delirium, or, as more frequent- 
ly happens, coma or drowsiness, supervene. This last symp- 
tom so frequently attends the eruptive fever of measles, that 
by some practitioners, it is regarded as one of its diagnostics. 
In measles, as in other febrile diseases, the symptoms general- 
ly suffer some remission towards morning, returning, how- 
ever, towards evening, with increased severity. The measles, 
even when violent, are not usually attend with a putrid ten- 
dency; but it sometimes happens that such a disposition pre- 
vails, both in the course of the disease, and at its termination. 
In such cases, petechias, or spots like flea bites, are to be ob- 
served, interspersed among the eruptions, and these last be- 
come livid, or assume almost a black color. Hemmorrhages 
break out from different parts of the body; the pulse becomes 
frequent, feeble, and perhaps irregular; universal debility en- 
sues, and the patient is destroyed. 

In those cases where there is much fever, with great diffi- 
culty of breathing, and other symptoms of pneumonic in- 
flammation, or where there is great debility, with a tendency 
to putrescence, there will always be considerable danger. But 
the consequences attendant on the measles are, in general, 
more to be dreaded than the immediate disease, for, although 
a person may get through it, and appear, for a time, to be re- 
covered, still hectic symptoms, and pulmonary consumption, 
may afterwards arise, and destroy him, or an ophthalmia may 
ensue. 

Measles, as well as small pox, not unfrequently call into 
action, a disposition to scrofula, where such exists in the con- 
stitution. Another bad consequence of the measles is, that 



MEASLES. 197 

the bowels are often left by them, in a very weak state, a 
chronic diarrhea remaining, which has sometimes proved 
fatal. Dropsy has also been known as a consequence of mea- 
sles. 

The morbid appearances to be observed on dissections of 
those who die of measles, are pretty much confined to the 
lungs and intestines, the former of which always show strong 
marks of inflammation, and sometimes a tendency to sphacelus, 
or mortification, where the patient, under the eruption, the 
trachea, and larger branches of the bronchia, as in the small 
pox, are often covered with it; which may account for the 
increase of the cough, after the appearance of the eruption. 

TREATMENT. 

Were it not for the serious, and sometimes fatal conse- 
quences attendant on an injudicious treatment of measles, it 
might be unnecessary to say more on this, than any eruptive 
febrile complaint. The great number of chronic complaints, 
the approximating cause of which, can be traced to measles, 
badly managed, would seem to impose on us a duty of par- 
ticularizing the most successful treatment. We have known 
some instances of ten and fourteen years standing, where the 
measles but imperfectly appeared on the surface, or, after ap- 
pearing, struck into the system, thereby entailing on the pa- 
tient, consumption and dropsical affections; and where, by 
the application of our external remedies, they made their re- 
appearance, or caused an eruption similar to that of the mea- 
sles, to spread over the whole surface of the body. To pre- 
vent such disastrous consequences, we have adopted the fol- 
lowing treatment : 

1st. We treat the complaint with our fever preparations, at 
its very first appearance. This course determines the dis- 
ease to the surface of the body, and, if persevered in, will 
cause the eruptions on the skin to appear much sooner, than 
any other course that can be adopted. When the eruptions 
can be kept prominent on the surface there is no danger to 



198 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT, 

be apprehended. The above treatment will effectually secure 
this object. 

2d. If the patient be afflicted with cough, apply the Cough 
Liniment freely to the throat and neck, which will effectually 
reduce the inflammatory affections of the bronchial tubes, and 
the cough will be relieved. 

3d. If the stomach be oppressed, an emetic of Pectoral 
Tincture will relieve it. 

4th. If the bowels be constipated, let a gentle cathartic be 
administered. 

5th. If hemorrhage supervene, and a chronic diarrhea shall 
follow, a full use of our Cholera Morbus Liniment may be 
applied, taking, at the same time, smart- weed tea, as a com- 
mon drink. 

6th. If twitching of the limbs, spasms, coma, or a deter- 
mination of the blood to the brain, take place, all our nerve 
preparations may be made successful agents in arresting this 
form of the complaint. Let it be remembered that, during 
all these various applications, the Liniments must not be lost 
sight of. They must certainly be applied; and their applica- 
tion renders your patient safe, and within your reach of resto- 
ration to perfect health. 

Let this treatment be adopted, and we shall hear no more 
of the measles making a second appearance, fourteen years 
after their first. 



PAROTITIS, OR MUMPS, 

Mumps is an inflammatory affection, capable of being pro- 
pagated by a peculiar contagion, and occurring sometimes epi- 
demically. The disease usually commences with slight fe- 
brile symptoms, with a feeling of stiffness of the jaws, and a 
swelling and pain in either one or both parotid glands. The 
swelling gradually increases until about the fourth day from 
the beginning of the disease, at which time the affected gland 
is greatly swollen, and very firm and tender to the touch. The 



MUMPS. 199 

skin on the tumor is generally of a natural color, or but slight- 
ly inflamed, although in some instances a pale redness is dif- 
fused over the swelling. Mastication and deglutition (eating 
and drinking) are attended with considerable pain. The fever 
is generally mild, and is attended by a state of nervous irri- 
tability and restlessness. From about the fourth day, the 
swelling gradually subsides, until the delumescence is com- 
plete, which is generally about the seventh day. Soon after 
the inflammation of the parotids begins to decline, the breasts 
in females, and the testicles in males, often become much 
swollen, and hard. The subsidence of the disease is usually 
attended with more or less general diaphoresis or perspiration, 
and a red sediment in the urine. 

In general, mumps is neither a severe, nor a dangerous af- 
fection, more especially when the patient keeps the affected 
parts moderately warm, and avoids exposing himself to the 
morbific influence of variable or low temperatures. In some 
instances, however, a sudden metastasis, or change of the in- 
flammation, takes place to the brain, or the testicles, or the 
mammae or breasts; and this is generally occasioned by the 
patient taking cold: when it passes to the brain, insensibility, 
coma, or furious delirium, usually supervenes, and death some- 
times occurs in a few hours. Doctor Eberle tells us he has 
known a case of this kind terminate fatally in less than an 
hour, under a paroxysm of violent convulsions. When the 
disease thus suddenly falls on the testicles, and the case is not 
judiciously treated, suppuration of these parts may take 
place — an occurrence always exceedingly painful, and some- 
times ultimately fatal. The inflammation or parotitis, how- 
ever, has no tendency to terminate in suppuration; yet when 
circumstances favorable to this termination supervene, it does 
sometimes take place in the parotids, (or salivary glands, situ- 
ated under the ear, the excretory ducts of which open in the 
mouth,) as well as in the external parts to which it may be 
transferred. Children, and young persons, are most liable to 
this affection; its occurrence in middle and advanced age 



200 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

being very uncommon. It very rarely occurs more than once 
in the same individual, and resembles in this respect the other 
acute contagious maladies. 

TREATMENT. 

At the first commencement of the disease, it may be over- 
come without difficulty, by applying our Stimulating Lini- 
ment, about the fauces and neck, two or three times a day. 
It, however, is necessary to avoid exposure to cold. But if 
the groins, and the parts near thereto, become swollen and in- 
flamed, our Vegetable Cerate ought to be applied, and the 
parts occasionally steamed with bitter herbs, or poulticed with 
a compound of slippery elm, blood root, and the bark of the 
root of willows. The application of a poultice of boiled 
white beans, is also recommended. 

CROUP. 



This is a disease which mostly attacks infants, who are 
suddenly seized with a difficulty of breathing and a crouping 
noise; it is an inflammation of the mucous membrane of the 
windpipe, inducing the secretion of a very tenacious coagu- 
lable lymph, which lines the air passages and impedes respira- 
tion. 

The croup does not appear to be contagious, whatever some 
physicians may think to the contrary; but it sometimes pre- 
vails epidemically. It seems, however, peculiar to some 
families; and a child having been once attacked, is very lia- 
ble to a return. It is confined to young children, and has 
never been known to attack a person arrived at the age of 
puberty. 

The exposure to cold, seems to be the general cause which 
produces this disorder, and therefore it occurs more frequent- 
ly in the winter and spring, than in the other seasons. It has 



CROUP. 201 

been said, that it is most prevalent near the sea-coast; but it 
is frequently met with in inland situations, and particularly 
those which are marshy. Some days previous to an attack of 
the disease, the child appears drowsy, inactive, and fretful; 
the eyes are somewhat suffused, and heavy; and there is a 
cough, which, from the first, has a peculiarly shrill sound: 
this, in the course of two days, becomes more violent and 
troublesome, and likewise more shrill. Every fit of coughing 
agitates the patient very much; the face is flushed, and swell- 
ed; the eyes are protuberant; a general tremor takes place, 
and there is a kind of convulsive endeavor to renew respira- 
tion, at the close of each fit. As the disease advances, a con- 
stant difficulty of breathing prevails, and the head is thrown 
back in the agony of attempting to escape suffocation. There 
is not only an unusual sound produced by the cough, but respi- 
ration is performed with a hissing noise, as if the windpipe 
was closed up by some slight, spongy substance. The cough 
is generally dry; but if any thing is spit up, it has either a 
purulent appearance, or seems to consist of films resembling 
portions of a membrane. Where great nausea and frequent 
retchings prevail, coagulated matter of the same nature is 
brought up. With these symptoms, there is much thirst, and 
an uneasy sense of heat over the whole body; a continual in- 
clination to change from place to place, great restlessness, and 
frequency of the pulse. In an advanced stage of the disease, 
respiration becomes more stridulous, and is performed with 
still greater difficulty, being repeated at longer periods, and 
with greater exertions, until, at last, it ceases entirely. 

The croup frequently proves fatal by suffocation, induced 
either by spasm affecting the glottis, or by a quantity of mat- 
ter blocking up the air-passages; but when it terminates in 
health, it is by a resolution of the inflammation, by a ceasing 
of the spasms, and by a free expectoration of the matter ex- 
uding from the trachea, or of the crusts formed there. The 
disease has, in a few instances, terminated fatally within 
twenty-fours after its attack; but it more usually happens, that 
where it proves fatal, it runs on to the fourth or fifth day. 
26 



202 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

Where considerable portions of the membranous films formed 
on the surface of the trachea, are thrown up, life is sometimes 
protracted for a day or two longer than would otherwise have 
happened. Dissections of children who have died of the 
croup, have mostly shown a preternatural membrane, lining 
the whole internal surface of the upper part of the trachea, 
which may always be easily separated from the proper mem- 
brane. There is likewise usually found a good deal of mu- 
cus, with a mixture of pus, in the windpipe and its ramifica- 
tions. As the inflammation is declining, it is very important 
that free expectoration should take place. This may be pro- 
moted by nauseating medicines, by inhaling steam, and by 
stimulating gargles, for which the decoction of seneca is par- 
ticularly recommended. Where there is much wheezing, an 
occasional emetic may relieve the patient considerably; and 
under symptoms of threatening suffocation, the operation of 
bronchotomy has sometimes saved life. Should fits of spasmo- 
dic difficulty of breathing occur in the latter periods of the 
disease, pectorals, joined with diaphoretics, would be most 
likely to do good. 

TREATMENT. 

Of all the diseases which afflict our race, there are none 
which have carried devastation and death in their train with 
such unconquerable sway, among children and youth, as has 
the croup. The bills of mortality in our cities, warrant the 
above remark. So hard to overcome has been this disease, 
that many worthy physicians have abandoned the idea of sav- 
ing even a plurality of their patients; and when the disease 
enters at our door, death appears to be ready to follow after. 
No one disease that has been treated with our remedies, has 
done more to establish the Iatroleptic treatment, than croup. 
Thousands of cases have been treated with our agents, and 
we have yet to hear of the first failure of complete success, 
where our remedies have been solely depended upon. 

1st. We apply our Cough Liniment to the throat and neck, 
very freely, and cover the same with warm flannel. 



ENTERITIS. 203 

2d. If the child can swallow, the Pectoral Tincture may 
be administered, in nauseating doses; and while this is going 
on, let some one prepare a warm bath, in which immerse the 
child, as soon as possible; and if the case be very severe, and 
spasms have commenced, we apply the Fever Liniment over 
the whole body, before being taken from the bath. This 
treatment will generally give so much action to the system, 
that he will be enabled to swallow. 

3d. We then administer our Diaphoretic Drops, in doses of 
eight or ten drops, in warm water, once in ten minutes, until 
a proper perspiration takes place — during all this time, the 
throat and neck must not be neglected. Continued applica- 
tions must be made thereto, which will soon remove the ob- 
structions in the windpipe. After which, keep up the gene- 
ral treatment as circumstances may suggest. 

With this course, the patient is safe. He recovers, by the 
use of tonics, without a diminution of strength, as is the case 
in venesection. 



ENTERITIS. 

Enteritis: inflammation of the intestines. It is known 
by the presence of fever, fixed pain in the abdomen, costive- 
ness, and vomiting. 

The causes are, acrid substances, indurated faeces, long- 
continued and obstinate costiveness, spasmodic colic, and a 
strangulation of any part of the intestinal canal; but another 
very general cause, is the application of cold to the lower ex- 
tremities, or to the belly itself. This disease is most apt to 
occur at an advanced period of life, and is very liable to a re- 
lapse. It comes on with an acute pain, extending, in general, 
over the whole of the abdomen, but more especially round the 
navel, accompanied with eructations, sickness at the stomach, 
a vomiting of bilious matter, obstinate costiveness, thirst, heat, 
great anxiety, and a quick, hard, and small pulse. After a 
short time, the pain becomes more severe, the bowels seem 



204 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

drawn together by a kind of spasm, the whole region of the 
abdomen is highly painful to the touch, and seems drawn to- 
gether in hard, elevated contractions. Invincible costiveness 
prevails, and the urine is voided with great difficulty and pain. 
The inflammation, continuing to proceed with violence, ter- 
minates at last in gangrenes; or abating gradually, it goes off 
by resolution. Enteritis is always attended with considera- 
ble danger, as it often terminates in gangrene in the space of 
a few hours from its commencement. 

TREATMENT. 

We treat this, as we do all inflammatory complaints, by 
powerful stimulating remedies, which give action to the sys- 
tem, and cause a free circulation of the blood; thus at once 
reducing the inflammatory symptoms. Our Stimulating Lini- 
ment is applied freely, and continued on the abdominal re- 
gion, and over the whole body, and also to the feet. The 
Pectoral Tincture is administered in nauseating doses, and in 
case of costiveness, gentle physic may be given. 



ERYSIPELAS 



Erysipelas; the rose, or St. Anthony's fire. This disease 
is an inflammatory affection, principally, of the skin, when it 
makes its appearance externally, and of the mucus membrane, 
when it is seated internally. It is more liable to attack 
women and children, and those of an irritable habit, than 
those of a plethoric and robust constitution. Erysipelas 
sometimes returns periodically, attacking the patient once or 
twice a year, or even once every month; and then, by its re- 
peated attacks, it often gradually exhausts the strength, espe- 
cially if the patient be old, and of a bad habit. Every part 
of the body is equally liable to it; but it more frequently ap- 
pears on the face, legs, and feet, than anywhere else, when 
seated externally. 



CHILBLAINS. 205 

It is brought on by all the causes that are apt to excite in- 
flammation, such as injuries of all kinds; exposure to cold, 
and obstructed perspiration; and it may likewise be occasion- 
ed by a certain matter generated within the body, and thrown 
out on its surface, A particular state of the atmosphere seems 
sometimes to render it epidemical. 

A species of erysipelatous inflammation, which most usual- 
ly attacks the trunk of the body, is that vulgarly known by 
the name of shingles, being a corruption of the French word 
ceingle, which implies a belt. Instead of presenting a uni- 
form inflamed surface, it consists of a number of little pim- 
ples, extending around the body, a little above the umbilicus, 
which have vesicles formed on them in a short time. Little 
or no danger ever attends this species of erysipelas. 

TREATMENT. 

This disease may be cured in a few days by the following 
course of treatment : 

1st. Administer our Vegetable Syrup and Alterative Drops, 
for the purpose of cleansing the system. 

2d. If the bowels be costive, take gentle laxatives. 

3d. Apply our Tetter Salve to the affected surface, once or 
twice a day, and at each dressing, wash off with a decoction 
of equal parts of blood root, pond lily, kerkuma, and bitter- 
sweet, made into a suds, by the addition of Castile soap. 

Keep the affected parts cool. 



CHILBLAINS 



Chilblains are painful inflammatory swellings, of a deep 
purple or leaden color, to which the fingers, toes, heels, and 
other extreme parts of the body, are subject, on being exposed 
to a severe degree of cold. The pain is not constant, but 
rather pungent and shooting at particular times, and an insup- 



206 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

portable itching attends it. In some instances the skin re- 
mains entire; but in others, it breaks and discharges a thin 
fluid. When the degree of cold has been very great, or the 
application long-continued, the parts affected are apt to morti- 
fy, and slough off, leaving a foul, ill-conditioned ulcer behind. 
Children and old people are more apt to be troubled with 
chilblains, than persons of middle age; and such as are of a 
scrofulous habit, are remarked to suffer severely from them. 

TREATMENT. 

If the skin remain unbroken, apply our Stimulating Lini- 
ment twice a day to the affected parts. After the skin be- 
comes broken, the Tetter Salve may be made use of, and, at 
the same time, wash the sore with a decoction made of blood 
root. 

If a foul indurated ulcer supervene, and the appearance of 
mortification becomes visible, apply, directly, into the ulcer, 
the Stimulating Liniment, which will give action, and correct 
the gangrene; after which, cure up the sore with our Vegeta- 
ble Cerate. 



HYSTERITIS — AN INFLAMMATION OF 
THE WOMB. 

Characterized by fever, heat, tension, tumor, and pain 
in the region of the womb; pain in the os uteri, when touched, 
and vomiting. In natural labors, as well as those of a laborious 
sort, many causes of injury to the uterus, and the peritoneum, 
which covers it, will be applied. The long-continued action 
of the uterus, on the body of the child, and the great pressure 
made by its head, on the soft parts, will further add to the 
chance of injury. Besides these, an improper application of 
instruments, or an officiousness of the mid-wife, in hurrying 
the labor, may have contributed to the violence. To these 
causes may be added, exposure to cold, by taking the women 



HYSTERITIS. 207 

too early out of bed after delivery, and thereby throwing the 
circulating fluids upon the internal parts, putting a stop to 
the secretion of milk, or occasioning a suppression of the 
lochia. 

An inflammation of the womb is sometimes perfectly dis- 
tinct, but it is more frequently communicated to the perito- 
neum, fallopian tubes, and ovaria; and having once begun, 
the natural functions of the organ become much disturbed, 
which greatly adds to the disease. It is oftener met with in 
women of a robust and plethoric labit, than in those of lax 
fibres, and a delicate constitution, particularly where- they 
have indulged in food of a heating nature, and in the use of 
spiritous liquors. It never prevails as an epidemic, like puer- 
peral fever, for which it has probably often been mistaken; 
and to this we may, with some reason, ascribe the difference 
in the mode of treatment which has taken place among physi- 
cians. 

An inflammation of the uterus shows itself usually about 
the second or third day after delivery, with a painful sensa- 
tion at the bottom of the belly, which gradually increases in 
violence, without any kind of intermission. On examining 
externally, the uterus appears much increased in size, is hard 
to the touch, and on making a pressure upon it, the patient ex- 
periences great soreness and pain. Soon afterward, there en- 
sues an increase of heat over the whole of the body, with 
pain in the head and back, extending into the groins, rigors; 
considerable thirst, nausea, and vomiting. The tongue is 
white and dry, the secretion of milk is usually much inter- 
rupted, the lochia are greatly diminished, the urine is highly 
colored and scanty, the body is costive, and the pulse hard, 
full, and frequent. These are the symptoms which usually 
present themselves when the inflammation does not run very 
high, and is perfectly distinct; but when it is so extensive as 
to affect the peritoneum, those of irritation succeed, and soon 
destroy the patient. 

Uterine inflammation is always attended with much danger, 
particularly where the symptoms run high, and the proper 



208 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

means for removing them, have not been timely adopted. In 
such cases, it may terminate in suppuration, scirrhus, or gan- 
grene. Frequent rigors, succeeded by flushing of the face, 
quickness and weakness of the pulse, great depression of 
strength, delirium, and the sudden cessation of pain and sore- 
ness, in the region of the abdomen, denote a fatal termination. 
On the contrary, the ensuing of a gentle diarrhea, the lochial 
discharge returning in due quantity and quality, the secretion 
of milk recommencing, and the uterus becoming gradually 
softer, and less tender to c touch, with an abatement of heat 
and thirst, prognosticate a favorable issue. When shiverings 
attack the patient, after several days continuance of the symp- 
toms, but little relief can be afforded by medicine, the event 
being generally fatal in this case; the woman emaciates and 
loses her strength, becomes hectic, and sinks under colliqua- 
tive sweating or purging. 

TREATMENT. 

The exhibition of our Vegetable Syrup will be found inva- 
luable in the treatment of this complaint. It will not only 
aid in regulating the bowels, and cause a healthy action with- 
out resort to cathartics, but it acts as a powerful preventive to 
scirrhus, suppuration, and gangrene. If there should be a 
case where costiveness should not be entirely removed, a gen- 
tle cathartic may be administered. Our Female Drops, taken 
in doses of six or eight drops, diluted in warm water sweet- 
ened, may be used to advantage; and if the patient be very 
feeble, tonic bitters may be administered. Externally, our 
Stimulating Liniment may be applied once a day, on the 
breast, bowels, back, and loins, and on plasters at the bottoms 
of the feet. It may be of advantage to apply a plaster to the 
back. About the head and neck, let the Nerve Liniment be 
freely applied — as in cases of this complaint the nervous sys- 
tem is generally much affected — in the region of the uterus, 
if there be much external inflammation. The application of 
our Vegetable Cerate will be useful to aid in allaying inflam- 



LEUCORRHEA. 209 

mation, and relieve the patient from pain: at the same time 
apply a poultice made of the flour of white beans, to which 
add a little slippery elm bark and pond lily root. If the fe- 
brile symptoms run high, a similar course to that adopted by 
us in cases of fever, may be resorted to, which will generally 
reduce the febrile symptoms by one application. The course 
here recommended has proven successful in every case within 
our knowledge: and we feel the more pleasure in recommend- 
ing it, from the fact that, this disease is considered one of the 
most difficult of treatment, by the best physicians, and that it 
is frequently mistaken for puerperal fever. Whenever this 
mistake happens, there is no danger of injury to the patient 
by a wrong judgment of the form of disease — as the promi- 
nent directions herein given may be applied in child-bed fever 
to good advantage. This course will give action to the circu- 
lating fluids of the body, relieve the oppressed organs, reduce 
the inflammation, and readily relieve the patient from every 
dangerous symptom. 



LEUCORRHEA. 

Fluor Albus — the whites. A secretion of whitish or 
milky mucus from the vagina of a woman, arising from de- 
bility, and not from venereal virus. This disease is marked 
by the discharge of a thin white or yellow matter from the 
uterus and vagina, attended with some degree of fetor, smart- 
ing in the uterus, pain in the back and loins, anorexia, and 
atrophy. In some cases the discharge is of so acrid a nature 
as to produce effects on those who are connected with the 
woman somewhat similar to venereal matter, giving rise to 
excoriation about the glands and preputium, and occasionally 
a weeping from the urethra. To distinguish leucorrhea from 
gonorrhea, it will be very necessary to attend to the symp- 
toms. In the latter, the running is constant, but in a small 
quantity; there is much ardor urinse, itching of the pudenda, 
swelling of the labia, increased inclination to vencrv, and very 
27 



210 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

frequently an enlargement of the glands in the groin; where- 
as in the former, the discharge is irregular, and in considera- 
ble quantities, and is neither preceded by, nor accompanied 
with, any inflammatory affection of the pudenda. 

Immoderate coition, injury done to the parts by difficult 
and tedious labor, frequent miscarriages, immoderate flowings 
of the menses, profuse evacuations, poor diet, and other causes 
giving rise to general debility, or to laxity of the parts more 
immediately concerned, are the causes which usually give rise 
to the disease. Delicate women with lax fibers, are very apt 
to be attacked, without the parts having been injured. 

A perfect removal of the disorder will at all times prove 
somewhat difficult to procure; but it will be much more so in 
cases of long standing, and where the discharge is accompa- 
nied with a high degree of acrimony. In these cases, many 
disorders, such as prolapsus uteri, ulcerations of the organs, 
atrophy, and dropsy, are apt to take place, which in the end 
prove fatal. 

TREATMENT. 

In leucorrhea, there is accompanying the discharge, gene- 
ral debility, with considerable disorder of the digestive or- 
gans. Which of these symptoms claim our first attention? 

The treatment should, from the first commencement, be 
appropriate to them all. The derangement of the digestive 
organs will require such gentle laxatives as will produce two 
or three evacuations daily. This will be effected by the use 
of our Vegetable Syrup, generally — warming medicine should 
be exhibited, and the diet should be light, nutritious, and suit- 
ed to the digestive powers. The tincture of cubebs, given in 
tea-spoonful doses three times a day, before eating, has re- 
lieved many cases of the leucorrhea. Our Stimulating Lini- 
ment, applied on plasters, renewed daily, and worn on the 
back and low on the abdominal region, together with small 
plasters of the same on the bottoms of the feet, should not be 
omitted. Our Female Drops, taken according to directions. 



PROLAPSUS UTERI. 211 

should be continued until perfect relief be obtained. Let the 
patient drink freely of tonic bitters, into which mix a small 
quantity of birth root, and a tea of white cohosh; into each 
draught add a half tea-spoonful of tincture of gum myrrh. 
A wash may be made use of daily, by injection, made of 
white oak bark and birth root, with a little balsam of life. If 
a cure is not effected by this treatment, continue the Lini- 
ment, and give the patient half a cup of senna tea three times 
a day, for a week; then give a table-spoonful of port wine, 
with an egg in it, for a number of mornings. A tea of holly- 
hock and princess feather, occasionally through the day; and 
sometimes, for a change, a tea of the bark of the crab-apple 
tree, and at night a tea-spoonful of charcoal and magnesia, in 
melasses. Drink no tea or coffee. Make a custard in the fol- 
lowing manner: Dissolve one ounce of isinglass in two quarts 
of milk, with eggs seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and al- 
spice — eat a few spoonsful three times a day. Malaga wine, 
yolk of an egg, and loaf sugar, may be taken occasionally. As 
a change for injection, white oak ooze and alum — broad leaf 
motherwort — young hyson tea, cinnamon and fennel. 

We have never witnessed a case where all the above pre- 
scriptions were necessary. They are given for the purpose 
of enabling the patient to procure such of them as may come 
within reach of being obtained. Though the patient should 
not despair if immediate relief be not gained, long standing- 
cases require much care, attention, and perseverance. Expo- 
sures of every kind ought to be avoided; gentle exercise in a 
carriage may be advantageous; and in order to divert the 
mind from the fearful forebodings attendant on the complaint, 
the changing of objects by traveling and the promiscuous in- 
tercourse in societj r , will do much towards rendering the pa- 
tient comfortable and happy. 

PROLAPSUS UTERI. 

This complaint, so common, and at the same time usually 
so unsuccessfully treated, has uniformly been overcome by an 



212 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

application of our remedies. At present, the usual treatment 
of the complaint is by supporters, which palliate the disease? 
though seldom, if ever, do they promise a cure. But the ex- 
ternal and internal remedies which we prescribe, have a ten- 
dency to strengthen the uterine organs, restore a healthy and 
free circulation to the fluids of the body, and a cure is the re- 
sult. It is well known that the fluor albus is sometimes an 
attendant on this complaint, and we have adopted the treat- 
ment recommended for that complaint, in cases of prolapsus 
uteri. A vast number of cases have recently been cured with 
an expense much less than the cost of a supporter; and when 
we compare the vast difference between a radical cure and a 
palliation of so distressing a disease, we should judge that 
none would hesitate which to choose. Though in many cases,, 
the prolapsus uteri, of long standing, has been relieved so sud- 
denly, that some have pronounced the cure a miracle, we wish 
to guard our friends against the belief that such results will 
always occur by the use of our remedies. It is well known 
to the careful observer, that ladies thus afflicted, generally, are 
among the most ambitious, talented, and persevering, in what- 
ever may be their pursuits in life, and that such women are 
by no means the most prudent in guarding their health; but, 
on the other hand, they will persevere in their avocations be- 
fore they have gained sufficient strength, and before the dis- 
ease is entirely overcome. To such we say, that all great ex- 
ertions, exposures to cold, walking, and particularly the fre- 
quent ascending stairs, etc., are exceedingly injurious, and 
ought to be avoided. Let the diet be simple, and easy of di- 
gestion. Wear a silk dress under the flannel. Let the mind 
be free from anxious cares — and the patient may look for- 
ward with the pleasing prospect of health and happiness. 



ASTHMA. 

Asthma; a difficulty of respiration, returning at intervals, 
with a sense of strictures across the breast, and in the lungs^ 



ASTHMA. 213 

a wheezing, hard cough, at first, but more free towards the 
close of eich paroxysm, with a discharge of mucus, followed 
by a remission. Asthma rarely appears before the age of 
puberty, and seems to attack men more frequently than wo- 
men, particularly those of a full habit, in whom it never fails, 
by frequent repetition, to occasion some degree of emaciation. 
In some instances, it arises from hereditary predisposition; 
and in many others, it appears to depend on a particular con- 
stitution of the lungs. Dyspepsia always prevails, and ap- 
pears to be a very prominent feature in the predisposition. 
Its attacks are most frequent in midsummer, and in dog days, 
and its first attack is frequently in the night. It is preceded 
by dullness, headache, drowsiness, and lassitude. If the cough 
is attended with an expectoration of mucus, he experiences 
much relief, and soon falls asleep. When he awakes in the 
morning, he still feels some degree of tightness across the 
breast, although his breathing is probably more free and easy, 
and the least motion renders this more difficult and uneasy; 
neither can he continue in bed, unless his head and should- 
ers are raised to a considerable hight. Towards evening he 
again becomes drowsy, is much troubled with flatulency in 
the stomach, and perceives a return of the difficulty of breath- 
ing, which continues to increase gradually, till it becomes as 
violent as the night before. 

The exciting causes are various. Accumulation of blood 
or viscid mucus, in the lungs; noxious vapors; a cold and 
foggy atmosphere; a close, hot air; the repulsion of eruptions; 
flatulence; accumulated faeces; violent passions; organic dis- 
eases in the thoracic viscera; etc. Sometimes the fits return 
regularly. The disease seldom proves fatal, except as induc- 
ing other more formidable diseases. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment must vary, in some degree, according to the 
form of the disease, and its attendant approximation to other 
diseases. A regular diet of easily digested food, and proper 



214 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

regimen, will do much towards relieving the disease. We 
apply the Nerve Liniment freely to the breast, neck, and be- 
tween the shoulders, twice or thrice a day. The Pectoral 
Tincture may be taken five or six times in twenty-four hours, 
regulating the dose from six to twelve drops, as the stomach 
can bear without nausea. Drink warm herb tea; soak the feet 
in warm water, and apply the Liniment to the bottoms thereof. 
There are some cases so severe, that it may be proper to ap- 
ply the Liniment over the whole body, take the Diaphoretic 
Drops, and cause a free perspiration; but a continuation of 
the treatment first directed, will almost always grant perma- 
nent relief. 



SICK HEADACHE. 

The great interest which has been excited by reason of 
the cures performed in a number of very distressing cases of 
many years standing, by the use of our Liniment for Head- 
ache, has induced us to give more extensive directions for its 
application, in the various forms of that complaint. 

TREATMENT. 

For slight headache, apply the Liniment, with friction, 
to the forehead, and crown of the head, holding the warm 
hand on the forehead, or applying warmth in any other way, 
or binding on a silk handkerchief, will facilitate relief. 

In more severe cases, in addition, apply the Liniment be- 
hind the ears, and to the back of the neck, a plaster of the 
same, and rub the Liniment on the breast, neck, spine, and 
soles of the feet. When these applications do not succeed, 
by inserting a small quantity of the Liniment into each nos- 
tril, which will prove pungent, and not severely so, for a few 
minutes only, it often gives entire relief. 

For severe paroxysms of sick headache, apply as above, 
and if speedy relief does not ensue, the patient should treat 



SICK HEADACHE. 215 

the case more elaborately. Where the disease is caused by a 
foul state of the stomach, take from ten to twenty drops of 
our Pectoral Tincture, or sufficient to produce gentle vomit- 
ing, which will be effected by the Pectoral Tincture, without 
cramping the stomach, and apply warm bricks to the soles of 
the feet. Soak the feet and legs in warm water, rub them 
with a flesh brush; then apply to the legs and feet our Stimu- 
lating Liniment, and wear the same on plasters applied to the 
bottoms of the feet, keeping the feet very warm. Let there 
be a small portion of the Headache Liniment applied in the 
ears, as far as it can be inserted, two or three times a day. 



CHAP. IX. 
SCROFULA, OR KING'S EVIL. 

Scrofula consists in hard indolent tumors of the conglo- 
bate glands, in various parts of the body, but particularly in 
the neck, behind the ears, and under the chin, which, after a 
time, suppurate and degenerate into ulcers, from which, in- 
stead of pus, a white curdled matter, somewhat resembling 
the coagulum of milk, is discharged. 

The first appearance of the disease is most usually between 
the third and seventh year of a child's age; but it may arise 
at any period between this and the age of puberty, after which 
it seldom makes its first attack. It most commonly affects 
children of a lax habit, with smooth, fine skin, fair hair, and 
rosy cheeks. It likewise is apt to attack such children as 
show a disposition to rickets, marked by a protuberant fore- 
head, enlarged joints, and a tumid abdomen. Like this dis- 
ease, it seems to be peculiar to cold and variable climates, 
being rarely met with in warm ones. Scrofula is by no 
means a contagious disease; but, beyond all doubt, is of an 
hereditary nature, and is often entailed by parents on their 
children. There are, indeed, some practitioners, who wholly 
deny that this, or any other disease, can be acquired by an 
hereditary taint. That a peculiar temperament of body, or 
predisposition in the constitution of some diseases, may ex- 
tend from both father and mother, to their offspring, as ob- 
serves Doctor Thomas, is very clearly proved. For example, 
we very frequently meet with gout in young persons of both 
sexes, who could never have brought it on by intemperance, 
sensuality, or improper diet, but must have acquired the pre- 
disposition to it in this way. Where there is any prcdispo- 
28 



218 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

sition in the constitution to scrofula, and the person happens 
to contract a venereal taint, this frequently excites into action 
the causes of the former, as a venereal bubo not unfrequently 
becomes scrofulous, as soon as the virus is destroyed by mer- 
cury. 

The late Doctor Cullen supposed scrofula to depend upon 
a peculiar constitution of the lymphatic system. The attacks 
of the disease seem much affected or influenced by the period 
of the seasons. They begin usually sometime in the winter 
and spring, and often disappear, or are greatly amended, in 
summer and autumn. 

The first appearance of the disorder is commonly in that 
of small oval, or spherical tumors, under the skin, unattended 
by any pain or discoloration. These appear, in general, upon 
the sides of the neck, below the ears, or under the chin; but 
in some cases, the joints of the elbows, or ankles, or those of 
the fingers and toes, are the parts first affected. In these in- 
stances, we do not, however, find small moveable swellings; 
but on the contrary, a tumor almost uniformly surrounding 
the joint, and interrupting its motion. After some time, the 
tumors become larger and more fixed: the skin which covers 
them, acquires a purple or livid color, and being much in- 
flamed, they at last suppurate, and break into little holes, from 
which, at first, a matter somewhat puriform oozes out; but 
this changes, by degrees, into a kind of viscid, serous dis- 
charge, much intermixed with small pieces of a white sub- 
stance, resembling the curd of milk. The tumors subside 
gradually, while the ulcers, at the same time, open more, and 
spread unequally in various directions. After a time, some 
of the ulcers heal ; but other tumors quickly form in different 
parts of the body, and proceed on, in the same slow manner 
as the former ones, to suppuration. In this manner the dis- 
ease goes on for some years, and appearing at last to have ex- 
hausted itself, all the ulcers heal up, without being succeeded 
by any fresh swellings, but leaving behind them an ugly 
puckering of the skin, and a scar of considerable extent. 
This is the most mild form under which scrofula ever ap- 



SCROFULA. 219 

pears. In more virulent cases, the eyes are particularly the 
seat of the disease, and are affected with ophthalmia, giving 
rise to ulcerations in the tarsi, and inflammation of the tu- 
nica adnata, terminating, not unfrequently, in an opacity of 
the transparent cornea. In similar cases, the joints become 
affected; they swell, and are incommoded by excruciating, 
deep seated pain, which is much increased upon the slightest 
motion. The swelling and pain continue to increase, and the 
muscles of the limb become, at length, much wasted. Matter 
is soon afterwards formed, and this is discharged at small 
openings, made by the bursting of the skin; being, however, 
of a peculiar acrimonious nature, it corrodes the ligaments and 
cartilages, and produces a caries of the neighboring bones. 
By an absorption of the matter into the system, hectic fever 
at last arises, and in the end, proves fatal. 

When scrofula is confined to the external surface, it is by 
no means attended with danger, although leaving one part, it 
is apt to be renewed in others. But where the ulcers are 
imbued with a sharp acrimony, spread, erode, and become 
deep, without showing any disposition to heal; when deep- 
seated collections of matter arise from among the small bones 
of the hands and feet, or in the joints, or tubercles of the 
lungs, with hectic fever, the consequence will be fatal. 

On opening the bodies of persons who die of this disease, 
many of the viscera are usually found in a diseased state, but 
more particularly the glands of the mesentery, which are not 
only much tumified, but often ulcerated. The lungs are fre- 
quently beset with a number of tubercles or cysts, which con- 
tain matter of different kinds. Scrofulous glands, on being 
examined by dissection, feel somewhat softer to the touch, 
than in their natural state, and when laid open, they are found 
to contain a soft, curdy matter, mixed with pus. 

TREATMENT. 

The first object to be gained in the treatment of king's evil, 
is to cleanse the blood, and restore the digestive powers of 



220 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

the stomach. To render pure the circulating fluids, we ad- 
minister, three times per day, our Vegetable Syrup in table- 
spoonful doses, to which add half a tea-spoonful of our Altera- 
tive Drops. If the stomach be foul, take the Pectoral Tinc- 
ture in nauseating doses, until it be cleansed; at the same time 
apply our Stimulating Liniment freely to the pit of the sto- 
mach, once or twice a day. The same Liniment ought to be 
applied over the whole, sound surface of the body, once a 
day, and by our usual means, cause a free perspiration fre- 
quently, or until there be a full circulation of all the circulat- 
ing fluids. On the ulcers apply the Vegetable Cerate, spread 
on plasters, and cleanse them twice a day with Castile soap 
suds. 

Let the whole body be washed off with soap suds, and then 
with salt and water, twice a week. 

If the tumors be indolent, they may be treated with so 
much of our stimulating remedies, as will cause action in 
them; but if they be irritable, apply a wash at each dressing, 
composed of equal parts of blood-root, bitter-sweet, kircuma 7 
and dandalions, made into a suds, by Castile soap. 

When the skin is not broken, and the tumorous swellings 
have not formed matter, we have frequently been enabled to 
reduce the swelling by the application of our Liniment, and 
have thus prevented an ulcer. 

It is of much importance in scrofula, that the patient avoid 
all intemperance, or excess of any kind. The food ought to 
be simple, of easy digestion, principally of hard, old bread, 
or ship-biscuit, avoiding oily substances or meat. Let the 
exercise be moderate, and the mind ought to be freed from 
care or anxiety; and a frequent intercourse with social friends 
will do much to dispel the gloom with which patients, afflict- 
ed with scrofula, are frequently troubled, and which retards 
the progress of a cure. 

With particular attention to the foregoing directions, the 
patient may look forward with the pleasing anticipation of a 
radical relief from this most loathsome disease. 



SCURVY. 221 



SCURVY. 



Scurvy (scorbutus): a disease of a putrid nature, preva- 
lent in cold and damp climates. It chiefly affects sailors, and 
such as are shut up in besieged places, owing, as is supposed, 
to their being deprived of fresh provisions, and a due quanti- 
ty of acescent food; to the prevalence of cold and moisture, 
and by such other causes as depress the nervous energy, as 
indolence, confinement, want of exercise, neglect of cleanli- 
ness, much labor and fatigue, sadness, despondency, etc. 
These debilitating causes, with the concurrence of a diet con- 
sisting principally of salted or putrescent food, will be sure to 
produce this disease. It seems, however, to depend more on 
a defect of nourishment, than on its vitiated state; and the 
reason that salted provisions are so productive of the scurvy, 
is, most probably, because they are drained of their nutritious 
juices, which are extracted and run off in brine. 

As the disease is apt to become general among the crew of 
a ship when it has once made its appearance, it has been sup- 
posed by many to be of a contagious nature; but the conjec- 
ture seems by no means well founded. The scurvy comes on 
gradually, with heaviness, weariness, and unwillingness to 
move about, together with dejection of spirits, considerable 
loss of strength, and debility. As it advances in its progress, 
the countenance becomes sallow, and bloated; respiration is 
hurried, on the least motion; the teeth become loose; the 
gums are spongy; the breath is very offensive; livid spots 
appear on different parts of the body; old wounds, which 
have long been healed up, break out afresh; severe wandering 
pains are felt, particularly by night; the skin is dry; the 
urine, small in quantity; and the pulse is small, frequent, and 
towards the last, intermitting; but the intellect, for the most 
part, clear and distinct. By an aggravation of the symptoms, 
the disease, in its last stages, presents a most wretched ap- 
pearance. 



222 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

Scurvy, as usually met with on shore, or when the person 
has not been exposed to the influence of the remote causes 
before enumerated, is unattended by any violent symptoms. 
Slight blotches, with scaly eruptions on different parts of the 
body, and a sponginess of the gums, are the chief ones ob- 
served. In the cure, as well as in the prevention of scurvy, 
more is to be done by regimen than by medicines, obviating, 
as far as possible, the several remote causes of the disease, but 
particularly providing the patient with a more wholesome 
diet, and a large proportion of fresh vegetables; and it has 
been found that those articles are especially useful, which con- 
tain a native acid, as oranges, lemons, etc. Where these can- 
not be procured, various substitutes have been proposed, of 
which the best appear to be, the inspissated juices of the same 
fruits, or the crystallized citric acid. Vinegar, sour-crout, and 
farinaceous substances, made to undergo the acetous fermenta- 
tion, have likewise been used with much advantage; also, 
brisk fermenting liquors, as spruce beer, cider, and the like. 
Mustard, horse-radish, garlic, and other substances of a stimu- 
lating character, promoting the secretions, are useful to a cer- 
tain extent. 

TREATMENT. 

To cure scurvy effectually, we first administer our prepara- 
tions for fever, fully. This treatment will arrest the disease; 
and it is peculiarly favorable to sailors, as the necessary means 
may at all times be at hand, whereas the usual remedies are 
frequently without the reach of this useful class of men. 

We also apply our Tetter Salve over the whole body, once 
or twice a day; and prepare a decoction of equal parts of 
mustard seed, horse-radish, and garlic, which may be taken as 
a common drink. Much, however, depends upon a complete 
change of diet — a continued use of salt provisions, is said to 
be one of the producing causes of the complaint. We would 
recommend sour-crout; and, in many cases, the acids may be 



SYPHILIS. 223 



used pretty freely, such as vinegar, cider, etc. Fresh provi- 
sions, together with a'strict regard to cleanliness, will do much 
towards effecting a cure. 



SYPHILIS, 

Syphilis, (from the Greek siphlos, feeble,) is the name 
now most frequently used for the venereal disease, which is 
thus called in a very fine poem, written in Latin hexameters, 
by the Italian Fracastorio, (first printed in Venice, 1530, 
4to). The history of this disease is one of the most difficult 
parts of the history of medicine. It is uncertain whether 
that violent and truly epidemical disorder of the skin, which 
appeared in the last ten years of the fifteenth century, was 
really what we now call syphilis, or not rather a variety of 
the leprosy, which soon after entirely disappeared. Towards 
the end of the fifteenth, and at the beginning of the sixteenth 
century, a disease appeared in Europe, till then unknown, and 
which, by its rapid extension, its horrible consequences, its 
great contagiousness, the ineificacy of all the remedies em- 
ployed against it, perplexed the physicians, and excited a gen- 
eral horror. Respecting its origin, nothing certain is known. 
The physicians of that time were, generally speaking, too ig- 
norant to investigate the origin of a disease which they were 
but rarely able to cure. Until lately, it was pretty generally 
believed that this malady was carried by the vessels of Co- 
lumbus from America to Europe; but the most accurate ex- 
amination of this opinion, shows its incorrectness. The first 
author who expresses this opinion, was a physician of Nurem- 
berg, Germany, of the name of Leonhard Schmauss, in 1518. 
He founded his opinion upon the fact, that the guaja wood, 
which had been introduced from America in the mean time, 
had become known as a good remedy for the disease; for, said 
he, nature always provides an antidote in the vicinity of a 
poison. The principal support which his opinion received, 
was from the testimony of the son of Columbus, and his sue- 



224 DISEASE ASD ITS TBEATMENT. 

cessor, Oviedo: but the first speaks only of a disease like 
scald-head, said to predominate in St. Domingo; and the 
other, a tyrant, like most of the Spaniards in America at that 
period, delights in representing his nation as the favorite peo- 
ple of God, and the Americans as cursed. A careful inquiry, 
shows only that the crew of Columbus brought a contagious 
disease with them, which destroyed the greater part of their 
number, and communicated itself to those who had inter- 
course with them. This is easily explained by the imperfect 
care taken of the health of such a crew, and the uncommon 
hardships of such a voyage, in those times. At all events, 
their complaint was not the venereal disease, as this broke 
out, almost at the same moment, in the summer of 1493, in 
the south of France, in Lombardy, and in the north of Ger- 
many. Now, the vessels of Columbus did not arrive, till 
April, at Seville, and the disease could not possibly have 
spread so far from this place within two months. 

Others have sought for the origin of this disease in the ex- 
pulsion of the Marranos (secret Jews) from Spain, between 
14S5 and 1493. Many thousands of these unhappy persons 
died of the plague on their passage by sea to Italy, Greece, 
etc. Thousands of others suffered by the leprosy; and with- 
out doubt, they carried misery and sickness with them where- 
ever they went. But that this particular form of disease ex- 
isted among them, cannot be proved; and, moreover, though 
Germany was not visited by these emigrants, the syphilis 
showed itself simultaneously, in 1493, in Halle, Brunswick, 
Mecklenberg, etc. 

As to the opinion that the venereal disease had always ex- 
isted in some form, it only amounts to a play upon words, as 
a mere diseased state of the genitals is far from amounting to 
syphilis, especially if we consider the horrid consequences 
which that disease produced at the time referred to. The 
most probable conclusion is, that the venereal disease was pro- 
duced by an epidemic tendency existing at that time, which 
gave this new form to the leprosy, then so widely spread. 



SYPHILIS. 225 

The ancient writers, for many years, described syphilis 
more as a terrible disease of the skin and bones in general, 
than as a mere affection of particular parts — more as a plague, 
than as a disorder of particular individuals. A new form of 
disease could be developed the more readily, as the political 
relations of that time brought the nations very much into 
connection with each other; Spaniards, French, Germans, 
traversed Italy; and all these, together with the Italians, 
spread through Germany. The disease brought by the sail- 
ors from America, akin to the scurvy, may also have contri- 
buted its part. It is certain that the disease was then far more 
terrible than now. It made the patient an object of horror 
to his friends, and almost inevitably reduced him to despair, 
as no physician was able to aid him, and the remedies used 
were almost as shocking as the disease. Since contagion at 
that period took place much easier than now, and houses of 
ill fame, which contributed greatly to spread the disease, were 
found everywhere, the disorder had by no means the same 
character of disgrace connected with it as at present. On the 
contrary, Ulrich von Hutten, who suffered from it for years, 
and at length recovered his health by the use of guiacum, and 
the strength of his constitution, always enjoyed public esteem, 
and even dedicated his work on the disease to the first spirit- 
ual prince of Germany, without indecorum or offense. Like 
other diseases, it gradually diminished in virulence, particu- 
larly after Paracelsus had found in mercury, and Swediauer 
in acids, the most effective remedies against it; and great suf- 
fering does not arise from it at present, except in consequence 
of neglect: yet it is still a formidable disease, as it injures, 
more or less, the general health, and lays the foundation for 
other diseases of a very obstinate character — gout, rheuma- 
tism, complaints in the bladder, etc. 

Remark. — A reference to the directions for the treatment 
of venereal, in this work, will enable the practitioner to over- 
come the disease with as much readiness as any practice here- 
tofore adopted. Though the gonorrhea and syphilis are two 
distinct forms of the venereal, we find the same remedies for 
29 



226 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

cleansing the system to be appropriate to both. There must 
be much care taken by the patient to avoid all heating drinks, 
and excesses of every kind, and more particularly that of 
venery. 

HERPES, OR TETTER. 

Herpes — a Greek word signifying to creep, because it 
creeps and spreads about the skin — tetter: an assemblage of 
numerous little creeping ulcers, in clusters, itching very much, 
and difficult to heal, but terminating in furfuraceous or bran- 
like scales. Bell, in his treatise on ulcers, arranges the herpes 
among the cutaneous ulcers, and says, that all the varieties, of 
importance, may be comprehended in the four following spe- 
cies: 1st. Herpes farinosus, or what might be termed the 
dry tetter, is the most simple of all the species. It appears 
indiscriminately on different parts of the body, but most com- 
monly on the face, neck, arms, and wrists, in pretty broad 
spots, and small pimples. These are generally very itchy, 
though not otherwise very troublesome; and after continuing 
a certain time, they at last fall off in the form of a white pow- 
der, similar to fine meal, leaving the skin below perfectly 
sound; and again returning in the form of a red efflorescence, 
they fall off, and are renewed, as before. 2d. Herpes pustu- 
losus. — This species appears in the form of pustules, which 
originally are separate and distinct, but which afterwards run 
together in clusters. At first, they seem to contain nothing 
but a thin, watery serum, which afterwards turns yellow, and 
exuding over the whole surface of the part affected, at last 
dries into a thick crust, or scale; when this falls off, the skin 
below frequently appears entire, with only a slight degree of 
redness on its surface; but on some occasions, when the mat- 
ter has probably been more acrid, upon the scale falling off, 
the skin is found slightly excoriated. Eruptions of this kind 
appear most frequently on the face, behind the ears, and on 
other parts of the head, and they occur mostly in children. 



TETTER. 227 

3d. Herpes miliaris — the miliary tetter. This breaks out 
indiscriminately over the whole body, but more frequently 
about the loins, breast, perinaeum, scrotum, and inguinal, than 
in other parts. It generally appears in clusters, though some- 
times in distinct rings, or circles of very minute pimples, the 
resemblance of which to the millet seed, has given rise to the 
denomination of the species. The pimples are at first, though 
small, perfectly separate, and contain nothing but clear lymph, 
which, in the course of this disease, is excreted upon the sur- 
face, and there forms into small, distinct scales; these at last 
fall off, and leave a considerable degree of inflammation be- 
low; and still continue to exude fresh matter, which likewise 
forms into cakes, and so falls off as before. The itching, in 
this species of complaint, is always very troublesome; and 
the matter discharged from the pimples is so tough and vis- 
cid, that every thing applied to the part adheres so as to occa- 
sion much trouble and uneasiness on its being removed. 4th. 
Herpes exedens — the eating and corroding tetter; so called 
from its destroying or corroding the parts which it attacks. It 
appears commonly, at first, in the form of several small pain- 
ful ulcerations, all collected into larger spots, of different sizes 
and different figures, which are always more or less of an ery- 
sipelatous inflammation. These ulcers discharge quantities 
of their sharp, serous matter, which sometimes forms into 
small crusts, that in a short time fall off; but most frequently, 
the discharge is so thin and acrid, as to spread along the neigh- 
boring parts, where it soon produces the same kind of sores. 
Though these ulcers do not in general proceed farther than 
the cutis vera, yet, sometimes the discharge is so very pene- 
trating and corrosive as to destroy the skin, cellular substance, 
and, on some occasions, even the muscles themselves. It is 
this species which should be termed phagedenic, or spreading 
ulcer, from the great destruction of parts which it frequently 
occasions. 



22S DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



TREATMENT. 



We have treated every species of tetter with our prepara- 
tions, with decided advantage. In ordinary cases, rubbing the 
parts once or twice a day with our Tetter Salve, washing off oc- 
casionally with Castile soap suds, will effect a cure. But in long- 
standing cases of tetter, where the system is much affected with 
it, we administer our Vegetable Syrup and Alterative Drops 
three or four times a day — apply the Tetter Salve three times 
a day, with a soft shaving-brush — keep the parts cool. We 
also wash the affected parts, three or four times a day, with a 
decoction of equal parts of blood-root, bitter-sweet, curcuma, 
and dandelion, — taking great care to remove all the matter 
which is discharged therefrom. With this treatment, obsti- 
nate cases have been cured, which had been unyielding to 
every other prescription for years. Salt rheum, and erysipe- 
las, have been cured by the same means. 



TINEA CAPITIS, OR SCALD-HEAD. 



This disease consists in a chronic inflammation of the skin 
of the head, productive of a secretion of matter peculiar in 
its nature, and capable of propagating the complaint, if applied 
to the scalp of a healthy subject. At first, the eruption is 
confined, probably, to only a small portion of the head; but, 
by degrees, its acrimony is extended to the neighboring parts, 
and, at length, the whole of the scalp is eroded, and beset with 
a scabby eruption. Children are principally affected with it, 
particularly of the lower class: hence it evidently arises from 
uncleanliness, from the want of a due proportion of whole- 
some nutritive food, and possibly from bad nursing. At any 
rate, these will very much aggravate the disease. In many 
instances, it is propagated by contagion, either by using a 



SCALD-HEAD. 229 

comb imbued with the matter from the head of a person la- 
boring under it, or by putting on his hat or cap. When pro- 
per means are early adopted, the disease seldom proves diffi- 
cult of cure. 

TREATMENT. 

One of the most obstinate cases of scald-head was cured, a 
number of years ago, by our remedies, adopting the following 
method — viz: We first applied our Vegetable Cerate a few 
days, leaving the head exposed to the air; then our Tetter 
Salve; washing twice a day with Castile soap. We gave, in- 
ternally, our Alterative Drops, to cleanse the system. In 
about two months, a cure was effected. 

This treatment has proved eminently successful, in every 
case which has come within our knowledge. 



CHAP. X. 

WHITE SWELLING. 

Arthropuosis; lumbar abscess; white swellings, and other 
affections of the joints: white swelling. According to Coop- 
er, in his first work on the practice of surgery, the large 
joints, such as the knee, ancle, wrist, elbow, are most exposed 
to the attack of this alarming malady. 

In the first stages of the disease, the skin is not at all alter- 
ed in color. The swelling sometimes yields, in a certain de- 
gree, to pressure, but is generally sufficiently firm to make 
the uninformed examiner believe that the bones contribute to 
the tumor. Whatever degree of pain may attend the early 
stage of the disorder, it particularly affects only one point of 
the articulation, in general its center, or the head of the tibia. 
In most cases, the tumor at first is very trivial, although the 
pain is severe. When the knee is affected, a fullness is first 
observed to occupy the little hollows, which are naturally 
situated on each side of the patella. This prominence aug- 
ments, and the whole articulation soon becomes everywhere 
very palpably enlarged. As the patient cannot bear the 
weight of the body on the affected limb, he gets into the ha- 
bit of only touching the ground with his toe, and thus the 
knee is generally kept a little bent, and the power of com- 
pletely extending it again is soon lost. In advanced cases, 
the knee is always found in a permanent state of flexion, or 
being bent. At length the diseased joint attains an enormous 
size, but the skin is not materially affected; a shining smooth- 
ness, and a few varicose veins, being the only uncommon ap- 
pearances. The skin, however, cannot now be pinched up 
into a fold, as it could in the early stage of the disease. At 



232 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

last, abscesses form around the joint, and their contents are 
discharged through ulcerated apertures. These openings oc- 
casionally heal after some time, and other similar abcesses 
take place at a different part of the tumor. The patient's 
health gradually becomes impaired, by the local disease. His 
appetite fails; he cannot sleep at night; his pulse is small and 
frequent; he has profuse perspirations, and his bowels are 
often disordered with diarrhea. Under such symptoms, dis- 
solution follows sooner or later, unless the local disease be 
relieved. 

There is another kind of white swelling, termed rheumatic, 
and it is very different from the scrofulous, just described. 
In the rheumatic, the pain is said never to occur, without 
some swelling being evident, nor does the acuteness of the 
pain subside, in proportion, as the tumefaction increases. 
On the other hand, scrofulous white swellings are always pre- 
ceded with pain, which is not so acute after the swelling 
commences, as it was before. "In rheumatic cases, the pain 
is not confined to a particular point, but extends over the 
whole articulation, and the health is not so much impaired as 
in other instances. I believe also, the bones do not undergo 
the morbid alteration which is peculiar to scrofulous affections 
of the joints. Rheumatic cases are more frequently cured 
than scrofulous ones. It is a very prevailing opinion that, in 
white swellings, the heads of the bones are preternaturally 
enlarged. I must frankly own, that, deceived by the feel of 
many diseased joints, and influenced by general opinion, I 
once imbibed the idea, that there is often a regular expansion 
of the heads of scrofulous bones. But, excepting an occasion- 
al enlargement, which arises from spicula of osseous matter, de- 
posited on the outside of the tibia, ulna, etc., and which altera- 
tion cannot be called an expansion of those bones, I never 
have been an eye-witness of the head of a bone being of 
preternaturally large dimensions, in consequence of the dis- 
ease known by the name of white swelling. I have been in 
the habit of frequently inspecting the state of numerous dis- 
eased joints which are annually amputated in St. Bartholo- 



WHITE SWELLING. 233 

mew's hospital, and though I have long been attentive to this 
point, my searches after really enlarged scrophulous bones, 
have always been in vain. The change which the head of 
the tibia undergoes in many cases, is first a partial absorption 
of the phosphate of lime throughout its texture, while a soft 
kind of matter seems to be secreted into its substance. In a 
more advanced stage, and indeed, in that stage which most 
frequently takes place before a joint is amputated, the head 
of the bone has deep excavations in consequence of caries, and 
its structure is now so softened, that when an instrument is 
pushed against a carious part, it easily penetrates deeply into 
the bone. A cursory examination of the diseased joint, even 
when it is cut open, will not suffice to show that the bones 
are not enlarged. I dissected one a few weeks ago, and on 
first looking at the parts, the swelling had every appearance 
of arising from an actual expansion of the bones. An intel- 
ligent medical friend, who was present, felt the ends of the 
bones, after the integuments were removed, and he coincided 
with me, that the feel, which was even now communicated, 
seemed to be caused by a swelling of the bones themselves. 
But on cleaning them, the enlargement was demonstrated to 
arise entirely from a thickening of the soft parts. The soft 
parts undergo a material change; they are both thickened and 
softened; and there is a large quantity of a viscid fluid inter- 
mixed with the cellular substance, which becomes thicker 
and softer than in the healthy state. In the cavity of the 
joint, we sometimes find a quantity of curdy matter, and the 
cartilages absorbed in various places." 

TREATMENT. 

Very many cases of scrofulous and rheumatic white swell- 
ings have been treated with our remedies, within the last four 
years, with the most decided success; several of them are 
given in another part of this work, some of which had been 
pronounced incurable by eminent physicians both of Europe 
and America. 
30 



234 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

We have cured some cases where the thigh and arm bones 
were perfectly carious, a large number of bones having ex- 
foliated therefrom, and in one instance the upper end of the 
thigh bone came out entire, at the hip. 

We have found by experience, that it requires a long, con- 
tinued and persevering treatment to effect a radical cure, some- 
times nine months or a year. 

Our first object has been, to relieve the intense suffering 
and in every case, we have been enabled to succeed in attain- 
ing this desirable object. We then commence a course of 
cleansing the circulating fluids, to effect which, we administer 
regularly, our Vegetable Syrup and Alterative Drops; keep 
the bowels open by gentle cathartics; sustain the system with 
tonics; and we also apply our Stimulating Liniment over the 
whole, sound surface of the body, twice a day, which aids in 
cleansing the blood, and giving action to the system, frequent- 
ly causing a free perspiration. At the same time, we apply 
our Vegetable Cerate to the ulcers, and wash them twice a 
day with Castile soap. If there be much inflammation, we 
apply a poultice compounded of kircuma, slippery-elm bark, 
bark of the root of willow, pond lily, blood-root, and bitter- 
sweet. Sometimes we apply the poultice, and as a change, 
the Cerate. 

If ulcers become morbid, we apply stimulating agents 
thereto, to give action, and cause a more ready discharge. 

All the variations from this course, necessarry to meet spe- 
cial cases, will be readily comprehended by those who may 
have charge of the treatment. 

It is very important that the patient abstain from all oily 
food, or that which is not easily digested. 

A persevering course of treatment, as above described, is 
sure of affording relief; and the use of the knife will seldom, 
if ever, be necessary, even in the worst cases; for, if the ulcers 
have commenced gangrene, the Stimulating Liniment, applied 
directly into them, will correct it. 



WHITLOE. 235 



WHITLOE 



Paronychia; panaris; panaritium; whitloe or felon. Any 
collection of pus formed in the fingers, is termed by authors, 
panaris, or whitloe, and is an abscess of the same nature, as 
those arising on other parts of the body. These abscesses are 
situated more or less deep, a fact which has induced writers 
upon the subject, to divide them into several species; accord- 
ingly they have arranged them under four heads, agreeably 
to the places in which they are formed. 

The first kind of panaris is formed under the cuticle, under 
one side of the nails, and sometimes all round. The second 
is seated in the fat lying under the skin, between that and the 
sheath, which involves the flex or tendon. The third is des- 
cribed by authors, to be formed within the sheath; and they 
still add a fourth species, arising between the periosteum and 
the bone. 

Whitloe is a settling of humors, which come on after a 
pricking, or any other wound, and often without any external 
provocation. The pains in this affection, are very acute. 
When it breaks out, it often shows an excresence. This set- 
tling commonly takes place under the periosteum, and may 
rot the bone, which may cause the loss of one or two phalanxes. 
A good surgeon may open the setling with skill; even make 
the amputation of the affected limb; but cutting is not curing. 



TREATMENT. 



The many promulgated remedies for whitloe, would seem 
to be sufficient. We have, however, been enabled to cure 
some very bad cases by a continued application of our Vege- 
table Cerate, from the commencement of the swelling until 
the cure was effected. Whenever the hand, wrist, or arm 
become painful, we have applied thereto our Stimulating Lini- 
ment. In most cases, an opening becomes necessary, but this 
alone by no means will effect a cure. 



236 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



HERNIA. 



Hernia (a rupture, a burst, a descent): a tumor formed by 
the displacement of a soft part, which protrudes through an 
accidental opening, from the cavity in which it is contained. 
The three great cavities of the body are subject to these dis- 
placements. The brain, the heart, the lungs, and most of the 
abdominal viscera, may become totally or partially displaced, 
and thus give rise to the formation of herniary tumors. Dis- 
placement of the brain, and of the organs of the chest, are, 
however, extremely rare, and are in general the result, or 
symptom, of some other disease. Every part of the abdo- 
men may become the seat of hernias; but they most com- 
monly appear in the anterior and inferior region, which being 
destitute, in a great measure, of fleshy fibers, and containing 
the natural openings, offers less resistance to the displacements 
of the viscera. They are most common in the groin, at the 
navel; more rarely, in the vagina, at the interior and upper 
part of the thigh, and at its lower and posterior part. 

They have received different names, from their positions. 
All the abdominal viscera, with the exception of the duode- 
num, the pancreas, and the kidneys, may form a hernia; but 
they are not all displaced with the same facility. The omen- 
tum, and intestinal canal, escape easily; but the stomach, the 
liver, and the spleen, form hernias more rarely. Most of the 
viscera, when displaced, push the peritoneum forward before 
them; this membrane thus forms an envelop of the hernia, 
which is called the hernial sack. If the hernia, with its sack, 
can be entirely replaced, it is said to be reducible; if, from its 
size, or other cause, it cannot be replaced, it is irreducible. 

Among the predisposing causes of hernia, may be ranked 
any circumstances which diminish the resistance of the ab- 
dominal walls, whether natural or accidental; such as the de- 
fect of fleshy fibers, the weakening of the walls of the sto- 
mach by a forced distention, as in pregnancy or the dropsy: 



HERNIA. 237 

or by an accident, as a wound. Any circumstance which 
tends to increase or relax the openings through which the 
vessels pass, as a violent extension of the body, long standing, 
etc., may have the same effect. Any prolongation of the vis- 
cera which tends to bring them in contact with points at 
which they may protrude, and articles of dress which push 
the organs towards the weaker parts of the abdominal wall, 
as corsets, may also produce the hernia. The efficient causes 
of the hernia, are, all circumstances which may break the 
equilibrium existing between the abdominal walls and the vis- 
cera, which react, and mutually press upon each other. The 
simultaneous contraction of the abdominal muscles and of the 
diaphragm, which takes place on every violent effort, is one of 
the chief of these causes. Hence, sneezing, coughing, leap- 
ing, playing on wind-instruments, etc., may be the occasions 
of a hernia. 

The symptoms of hernia are, the existence of a tumor, or 
swelling, at any point of the abdomen, but particularly to- 
wards the opening of the vessels. A reducible hernia is not 
a very troublesome disease, but may become so, by acquiring 
an increase of size, and the strangulation to which it is liable. 
A hernia is said to be strangulated, when it is not only irre- 
ducible, but also subjected to a continual constriction, which 
may become fatal; this constriction may be produced by dif- 
ferent causes, but it is generally produced by the opening 
through which the hernia protrudes. 

As soon as a patient perceives that he is affected with a 
hernia, he should have recourse to medical advice; for the 
disease is then in its most favorable state for treatment. The 
hernia is immediately reduced, and must then be subject to a 
constant compression. This is done by means of the truss. 
An irreducible hernia must be supported with great care. All 
violent exercise, and excess in diet, must be avoided. The 
strangulated hernia, presenting greater danger, requires more 
prompt relief. The object of treatment is, to relieve the con- 
striction. If the reduction cannot be effected by other means, 
an operation will be necessary. This consists in dividing the 
parts which produce the constriction. The longer this opera- 



238 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

tion is delayed, the more dangerous it will become. After 
the parts are healed, the opening must be subject to compres- 
sion, as in the case of simple hernia. 

Remark. — A few cases of simple hernia have been success- 
fully treated by an application of our Stimulating Liniment. 
Spread a plaster, and wear it over the injured part. The parts 
must be continually compressed by a truss. 



POLYPUS. 

Polypus: in medicine, a name given to swellings which 
form chiefly in the mucous membranes, and were supposed to 
resemble the animal of the same name. These tumors are 
most common in the nostrils, the throat, the uterus, and are 
more rarely found in the stomach, the intestines, the bladder, 
or the external passage of the ear. Polypuses differ much in 
size, in number, mode of adhesion, and nature. One species 
is called mucosas, soft, or vesicular polypuses, because their 
substance is soft, spongy, vesicular, and, as it were, filled with 
w"hite juices; another is called hard polypuses, and has been 
distinguished into the fibrous, or fleshy, and the scirrhous, or 
cancerous. The fibrous polypuses are of a dense, close tex- 
ture, and of a whitish color; they contain few vessels, and do 
not degenerate into cancers. The scirrhous, or carcinomatous 
polypuses, are really cancerous painful tumors, which discharge 
blood, and exhibit all the pathological changes of cancerous 
affections. 

TREATMENT. 

Different modes of treatment must be adopted, according 
to the particular nature of the disease, In common cases, 
when the application can reach the polypus, or very nearly 
reach it, our Stimulating Liniment will destroy it in a few 
weeks. Blood-root, as a wash, externally applied, will also 
aid in effecting a cure. It also will be useful to take our Al- 
terative Drops, in small doses, for some length of time. 



DROPSY. 239 



DROPSY. 



Dropsy: a preternatural collection of serous, or watery 
fluid, in the cellular substance, or different cavities of the 
body. It receives different appellations, according to the par- 
ticular situations of the fluid. When it is diffused through 
the cellular membrane, either generally or partially, it is call- 
ed anasarca; when it is deposited in the cavity of the cra- 
nium, it is called hydrocephalus; when in the chest, hydro- 
thorax, or hydrops pectoris; when in the abdomen, ascites; 
in the uterus, hydrometra; and within the scrotum, hydro- 
cele. 

The causes of these diseases are, a family disposition there- 
to; frequent salivations; excessive and long-continued evacua- 
tions; a free use of spiritous liquors; scirrhosities of the liver, 
spleen, pancreas, mesentery, and other abdominal viscera; 
preceding diseases, as the jaundice, diarrhea, dysentery, 
phthisis, asthma, gout, intermittents of long duration, scarlet 
fever, and some of the exanthemata; a suppression of accus- 
tomed evacuations; the sudden striking in of eruptive humors; 
ossification of the valves of the heart; polypi in the right 
ventricle; aneurism in the arteries; tumors making a consid- 
erable pressure on the neighboring parts; permanent obstruc- 
tion of the lungs; rupture of the thoracic duct; exposure for 
a length of time to a moist atmosphere; laxity of the exhal- 
ants; defect in the absorbents; topical weakness, and general 
debility. 

The first of these species which we shall describe is ascites, 
or dropsy of the belly; a tense, but scarcely elastic, swelling 
of the abdomen, from accumulation of water. Ascites is 
often preceded by loss of appetite, sluggishness, dryness of 
the skin, oppression at the chest, cough, diminution of the 
natural discharge of urine, and costiveness. After the swell- 
ing has commenced, it increases until the whole belly becomes 
uniformly swelled and tense. The distention, and sense of 



240 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

weight, vary somewhat with the position of the body, being 
greatest on the side on which the patient lies. As the collec- 
tion of water becomes more considerable, the difficulty of 
breathing is much increased, the countenance exhibits a pale 
and bloated appearance, an immoderate thirst comes on, the 
skin is dry and parched, and the urine is very scanty, thick, 
and high-colored, and deposits a lacteritious sediment. The 
pulse is variable, being sometimes considerably quicker, some- 
times slower, than is natural. The operation of tapping 
should be performed only where the distention is very great, 
and the respiration, or other important functions, impeded; 
and it will often be best not to draw off the whole fluid at 
once. Great care must be taken, also, to keep up a sufficient 
pressure, by a broad bandage over the abdomen, as even fatal 
syncope has arisen from the neglect of this. The contraction 
of the muscles will be promoted by friction. The remedies 
for this disease are, cathartics, diuretics, gentle friction of the 
abdomen with oil, etc. Tonic medicines, a nutritious diet, 
and, if the complaint appears to be giving way, such exercise 
as the patient can take without fatigue, with other means of 
improving the general health, ought not to be neglected. 

Another species of dropsy is called anasarca. It is occa- 
sioned by a serous humor, spread between the skin and flesh, 
or rather, by a general accumulation of lymph in the cellular 
system. This species of dropsy shows itself, at first, by a 
swelling of the feet and ankles towards the evening, which, 
for a time, disappears again in the morning. The tumefaction 
is soft and inelastic, and, when pressed upon by the finger, 
retains its mark for some time, the skin becoming much paler 
than usual. By degrees, the swelling ascends, and occupies 
the trunk of the body; and, at last, even the face and eyelids 
appear full and bloated: the breathing then becomes difficult, 
the urine is small in quantity, high-colored, and deposits a 
reddish sediment; the belly is costive; the perspiration much 
obstructed; the countenance yellow; and a considerable de- 
gree of thirst, with emaciation of the whole body, prevail. 
To these symptoms succeed torpor, heaviness, a troublesome 



DROPSY. 241 

Though, and a slow fever. In some cases, the water oozes out 
through the pores of the cuticle; in others, being too gross to 
pass through them, it raises the cuticle in small blisters; and 
sometimes the skin, not allowing the water to pass through it, 
is compressed and hardened, and is at the same time so much 
distended, as to give the tumor a considerable degree of firm- 
ness. In some few cases, the disease goes off by a spontane- 
ous crisis, by vomiting, purging, etc. Where the quantity of 
fluid collected is such as to disturb the more important func- 
tions, absorption may be promoted by friction, and bandaging 
the parts, which will, at the same time, obviate further effu- 
sion; but most powerfully, by the use of different evacuating 
remedies, especially those which occasion a sudden consid- 
erable discharge of fluids. Emetics have been often employ- 
ed with advantage; but it is necessary to guard against weak- 
ening the stomach by the frequent repetition of those which 
produce much nausea. Cathartics are of much greater, and 
more general utility. Diuretics are universally proper. 
It is very desirable to promote evacuation by the skin. 
Sometimes much relief is obtained by promoting perspira- 
tion, locally, by means of the vapor bath. Mercury has 
been much employed. Regular exercise, such as the pa- 
tient can bear, ought to be enjoyed; and diligent friction of 
the skin, particularly of the affected parts, employed when 
the tumefaction is usually least, namely, in the morning. 
The cold bath duly regulated, may also, when the patient is 
convalescent, materially contribute to obviate a relapse. 

The next species of dropsy which we shall consider, is 
hydrocephalus — dropsy of the brain, dropsy of the head. It 
is sometimes of a chronic nature, when the water has been 
known to increase to an enormous quantity, effecting a sepa- 
ration of the bones of the head, and an absorption of the 
brain. Pain in the head, particularly across the brow, stupor, 
dilatation of the pupils, nausea, vomiting, preternatural slow- 
ness of pulse, and convulsions, are symptoms of this disease. 

Hydrocephalus is almost peculiar to children, being rarely 
known to extend beyond the age of twelve or fourteen; and 
31 



242 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

it seems more frequently to arise in those of a scrofulous and 
rickety habit, than in others. It is an affliction which has 
been observed to pervade families, affecting all, or a greater 
part of the children, at a certain period of their life; which 
seems to show that, in many cases, it depends more on the 
general habit, than on any local affection, or accidental cause. 

The disease has generally been supposed to arise in conse- 
quence either of injuries done to the brain itself, by blows, 
falls, etc., from scirrhous tumors, or excrescences within the 
skull, from original laxity or weakness in the brain, or from 
general debility, and an impoverished state of the blood. 

With respect to its proximate cause, very opposite opinions 
are still entertained by medical writers, which, in conjunction 
with the equivocal nature of its symptoms, prove a source of 
considerable embarrassment to the young practitioner. 

When recoveries have taken place in hydrocephalus, we 
ought, probably, to attribute more to the efforts of nature, 
than to the interference of art. It is always to be regarded 
as of difficult cure. The treatment should be prompt and ac- 
tive. The inflammatory action should be lessened, and then 
absorption promoted. If the progress of the disease be ar- 
rested, the strength is to be established by a nutritious diet, 
and tonic medicines. 

TREATMENT. 

As the treatment for most of the forms of dropsy laid down 
in this article, is given in another part of this work, we shall 
confine ourselves to that of the limbs and abdomen. 

1st. If the disease be in the feet and legs, the patient ought 
to soak the parts in weak lye or warm water, rub them up- 
wards, while in the same, wipe dry, and apply the Stimulat- 
ing Liniment thereto very freely. This ought to be repeated 
two or three times a day; and if the feet and limbs are much 
swollen, bandage the same at a time when the swelling is re- 
duced, commencing at the toes. The limbs are generally 
swollen the most at night, and if the bandages are closely 



DROPSY. 243 

confined on the limbs, in the morning the swelling will not 
recur. 

2d. If the abdominal region be the seat of disease, apply 
the Liniment over that region freely, twice or three times a 
day, with much friction, and let there be a plaster of the same 
worn continually. Much friction must not be neglected. 
At the same time, let the patient take tonic and diuretic me- 
dicine, and keep the bowels free by gentle physic. 

3d. If fever supervene, apply our remedies for fever. If, 
at the same time, as is frequently the case, the patient is af- 
fected with flatulency, the Essence of Life may be adminis- 
tered to the best advantage. A mucilaginous diet ought to 
be adopted. Gentle exercise, and pure air, are of much im- 
portance. Let the room be freely ventilated, and avoid all 
sudden changes of atmosphere. 

The absorbents are more readily aroused by our remedies, 
than by any medicine which has heretofore been depended 
upon, in this disease. 



CHAP. XL 

ANGINA PECTORIS— PAIN IN THE BREAST. 

This was noticed as a distinct disease, until the attention 
of the profession was directed to it by Doctor Herberden, in 
a very perspicuous and full account of its peculiar character, 
published in the second volume of the Medical Transactions 
of the London College of Physicians. Since that time, it 
has been frequently and minutely described, and of late years 
especially, its phenomena and pathology have received much 
attention. 

An acute pain at the lower end of the sternum (breast,) 
inclining rather to the left side, and extending up into the left 
arm, accompanied with great anxiety, and a sense of suffoca- 
tion, are the characteristic symptoms of the disease. It is 
found to affect men much more frequently than women, par- 
ticularly those who have short necks, who are inclined to cor- 
pulency, and who, at the same time, lead an inactive life. 
Although it is sometimes met with in persons under the age 
of twenty, still it more frequently occurs in those who are 
between forty and fifty. 

In slight cases, and in the first stage of the disorder, the 
fit comes on by going up hill, or up stairs, or by walking at a 
quick pace, after a hearty meal; but as the disease advances, 
or becomes more violent, the paroxysm is apt to be excited 
by certain passions of the mind, by slow walking, by riding 
on horseback, or in a carriage, or by sneezing, coughing, 
speaking, or straining at stool. In some cases, the patient 
feels the attack between two and four o'clock in the morning, 
or whilst sitting or standing, without any previous irritation 
or obvious cause: on a sudden he is seized with acute pain in 



246 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

the breast, or rather at the extremity of the sternum, inclin- 
ing to the left side, and extending up into the arm, as far as 
the insertion of the deltoid muscle, accompanied by a sense 
of suffocation, great anxiety, and an idea that its continuance 
or increase, would certainly prove fatal. In the first stages 
of the disease, the uneasy sensation at the end of the sternum, 
with the other unpleasant symptoms, which seem to threaten 
a suspension of life, by a perseverence in exertion, usually go 
off, upon the person's standing still, or turning from the wind; 
but in a more advanced stage, they do not so readily recede, 
and the paroxysms are much more violent. During the fit, 
the pulse sinks in a greater or less degree, and becomes irreg- 
ular; the face and extremities are pale, and bathed in a cold 
sweat; and, for a while, the patient is, perhaps, deprived of 
the powers of sense and voluntary motion. The disease 
having recurred, more or less frequently, during the space of 
some years, a violent attack at last puts a sudden period to 
his existence. 

Angina pectoris is attended with a considerable degree of 
danger; and it usually happens that the patient is carried off 
suddenly. It mostly depends upon an ossification of the 
coronary arteries, and then we never can expect a radical cure. 
During the paroxysms, considerable relief is to be obtained 
from fomentations, and by administering powerful antispas- 
modics; by applying fomentations, by wetting flannels with 
the tincture of myrrh, and applying them to the sternum, or 
part most affected It is also necessary to give laxatives, to 
keep the bowels open. A particular attention should be paid 
to diet. The celebrated Odier of Geneva, restricted his pa- 
tients to an extremely spare and simple diet, as the best means, 
in his opinion, for preventing the return of the disease. Doc- 
tor Good advises that the patient be immediately placed in an 
inclined position, the head raised high, and an emetic instant- 
ly administered. It is said that Percival was the first that re- 
commended emetics in the paroxysm of the disease. Richter 
admits that much relief may sometimes be obtained from 
vomits; but he asserts that they may also readily do a great 



AXGINA PECTORIS. 247 

deal of harm. Doctor Eberle is of opinion that, where the 
oppression in the chest is great, and the habit is robust and 
plethoric, blood-letting will occasionally give some relief. 
He states also: "Indeed, venesection may very readily prove 
injurious in this complaint; it ought not to be used unless the 
indications for employment are unequivocal." Doctor Parry, 
who particularly advocates the practice of venesection in this 
complaint, advises that the blood should be taken from a 
small orifice, the patient being placed in a horizontal position, 
while the physician is to keep his finger on the pulse, to de- 
cide the limits to which venesection is to be carried. The 
treatment I have generally known to give the most relief in 
this disease, is to bathe the feet frequently, keep up perspira- 
tion, use emetics freely, and keep the bowels open." 

TREATMENT. 

We have been enabled effectually to remove very many 
long-standing cases of pain in the breast, by a much more 
simple treatment than that which is recommended in this ar- 
ticle. 

Our Stimulating or Nerve Liniment, applied to the breast, 
and sometimes between the shoulders, has been used to much 
advantage, giving very ready and permanent relief. The 
Vegetable Syrup, Pectoral Tincure, and Essence of Life, ad- 
ministered internally, will be of much service; and sometimes 
the Pectoral Tincture may be taken in doses to cause vomit- 
ing. It may be advisable in some cases, to administer medi- 
cine to cause a powerful perspiration; and in some instances 
the Liniment may be used freely at the breast, for the pur- 
pose of causing an abraded surface, which generally affords 
sudden relief. 

It is admitted in the above quotations, that venesection is 
sometimes dangerous. With the application of our remedies 
we have uniformly been enabled to relieve the patient with- 
out recourse to it. 



248 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



OBSTRUCTED MENSTRUATION. 

Amenorrhea, (obstructed menstruation,) is a total or par- 
tial obstruction of the menses, in women, from other causes 
than pregnancy or old age. The menses should be regular, 
as to quantity and quality; and that the discharge should ob- 
serve the monthly period, is essential to health. When it is 
obstructed, nature makes her efforts to obtain for it some other 
outlet. When these efforts of nature fail, the consequences 
may be, pulmonic diseases, spasmodic affections, epilepsy, 
apoplexy, etc., etc., according to the general habit of the pa- 
tient. 

The causes of the suppression of the menses appear mcstly 
to operate by inducing a constriction of the extreme vessels, 
such as cold, fear, and other distressing passions; an indolent 
life, abuse of acids, etc. It is sometimes symptomatic of 
other diseases, in which considerable debility occurs, as phthi- 
sis pulmonalis. When the discharge has been some time in- 
terrupted, particularly in persons previously healthy, hemor- 
rhages will often happen from other outlets — the nose, sto- 
mach, lungs, etc.; even, in some instances, a periodical dis- 
charge of blood from an ulcer, has occurred. The patient 
generally becomes obstinately costive, often dyspeptic; pains 
in the bowels, and various hysterical symptoms, are likewise 
apt to attend the patient. 

TREATMENT, 

The means chiefly efficacious in restoring the uterine func- 
tions, are those calculated to relax spasms, assisted sometimes 
by an increased arterial action, particularly in prostrated cases. 

In all cases of this complaint, our Nerve Liniment is an 
invaluable remedy. Let it be applied to the abdomen, back, 
and loins, and apply our Stimulating Liniment to the breast 
and feet. Let the Vegetable Syrup, Pectoral and Female Drops, 



MORTIFICATION. 249 

and Balsam of Life, be taken according to directions. This 
course of treatment, persevered in, has uniformly relieved the 
patient. If the patient be plethoric, instead of venesection a 
profuse perspiration may be induced, a few times, and relief 
will be gained without any diminution of strength. It may 
be necessary to accompany the other means with a gentle ca- 
thartic; but this will seldom happen, as the Syrup will regu- 
late the bowels. During this treatment, the patient may take 
some tonic bitters, in wine. All exposure to cold, or damp 
air, ought to be avoided. Eat sparingly of easily digested 
food, and enjoy gentle exercise. When there are evidently 
other forms of disease accompanying this complaint, let them 
be treated as recommended in other parts of this work. 

MORTIFICATION. 



Mortification, in medicine, is the death of a part of the 
body, while the rest continues alive, and often in a sound 
state. If the part be a vital organ, as the lungs, its death 
must necessarily be followed by that of the whole person. 
Mortification is called gangrene, and sphacelus, wiien occur- 
ring in soft or fleshy parts, as in the stomach or in the limbs; 
and caries, when in a bone, as in the spine, in the skull, etc. 
It is caused by violent inflammation; by exposure to freezing 
cold; by hospital fevers; by languid, or impeded, or stopped 
circulation, as in cases of bed-ridden or palsied persons; and 
by improper food, particularly the spurred or mildewed grain. 

It may be recognized, when preceded by inflammation, by 
the following signs: Subsidence of pain, heat, and redness; 
loss of sensibility; brown lividity; blistered skin, with bloody 
serum in the vesicles; offensive odor occurring in the part, 
and by a small, rapid, intermitting pulse; by shiverings, fol- 
lowed by cold sweat, diarrhea, delirium, hiccough, dejection 
of spirits, and by a wild, cadaverous countenance. When a 
part having been frozen is suddenly exposed to heat, mortifi- 
cation rapidly ensues: the part becomes florid; inflammation 
32 



250 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

is unsuccessfully attempted, and sphacelus is the result. In 
the above species, a distinctly marked line divides the dead 
and living portions; often a healthy suppuration ensues. 

Mortification is common in the fevers, wounds, and inju- 
ries, of the crowded jails and military hospitals of Europe. 
This gangrene is considered contagious by some surgeons, the 
nurses and orderlies suffering from ulcers and sloughs on their 
hands, when touched with the sponges used in cleansing the 
sick. The same effect is produced on the sound portions of 
the skin of the sick. This hospital gangrene is distinguished 
by its rapid spread to contiguous parts, as from fingers to 
arms; by the oozing of grumous blood; by horrible fetor; by 
fatal depression of spirits; and by the sullen despair of pa- 
tients who, on the day of battle, or of amputation, were the 
bravest of the brave. Somtimes the cutting of a nail to the 
quick, or a slight bruise, will induce gangrene in old and de- 
bilitated persons. Mildew mortification differs from other 
kinds in appearance and process, beginning with numbness 
and coldness in the fingers or toes, without fever, but with 
spasms, and hebitude of mind; it separates arms, or legs, 
thighs, and nose. It is oftener found among the voluptuous 
rich, than in the laboring poor — in large eaters, than in free 
drinkers. It is thought to be connected with a diseased state 
of the digestive organs, and great nervous debility. Mr. Pott 
sometimes checked it by opium, in a few days; and after the 
dropping off of the affected parts, the patient recovered health. 
There is a dry gangrene, to which palsied persons, as well as 
others, are liable, which slowly destroys the limb, and com- 
monly without inflammation or putrefaction. This is some- 
times explained by the absence of warmth, and moisture, and 
air, which are removed by preceding atrophy; the color livid, 
though sometimes nearly natural. When the bones of the 
leg mortify, or become carious, new osseous matter is pro- 
vided, in sound constitutions. This process, occupying years 
when left to nature, is much accelerated by the artificial re- 
moval of the dead bone. 



ATROPHY. 251 



TREATMENT. 



When the circulation is languid, as in lying-in women, and 
palsy and gangrene supervene, we have been enabled to arrest 
its progress by our stimulating agents externally applied; but 
they must be used in the most profuse manner. At the same 
time, give our Diaphoretic Drops internally. In all cases of 
mortification, from whatever cause it may arise, it is necessa- 
ry to give action to the internal organs, as well as to the sur- 
face. When the digestive powers are in a measure destroyed, 
a plaster of our Stimulating Liniment ought to be worn on 
the breast, repeatedly and often renewed. 

If the disease be occasioned by freezing, a full and contin- 
ued use of our Liniment will usually arrest its progress. If 
the limbs be cold, and have little appearance of inflammation, 
they must be warmed up by the same means. Sometimes the 
Nerve Sanative may be used for that purpose, as it is com- 
posed of the most powerful antiseptic medicines. 

But in all cases, whether inflammation appear, or the parts 
appear to be palsied, these preparations ought to be resorted 
to rather than sedatives; as opium does nothing more than 
palliate, for the present, whereas our remedies give free action 
to all the circulating fluids, whereby the disease is arrested. 

ATROPHY. 

Atrophy is a deficient nourishment of the body. There 
are many diseases in which the body becomes daily more lean 
and emaciated; appears deprived of its common nourishment, 
and for that reason, of its common strength. It is only, there- 
fore, in those cases in which the emaciation constantly in- 
creases, that it constitutes a peculiar disease; for when it is 
merely a symptom of other common diseases, it ceases with 
the disease, as being merely a consequence of great evacua- 
tions, or of the diminished usefulness or imperfect digestion 



252 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

of the nourishment received. But when emaciation, or atro- 
phy, constitutes a disease by itself, it depends upon causes pe- 
culiar to this state of the system. These causes are, perma- 
nent, oppressive, and exhausting passions; organic disease; a 
want of proper food, or of pure air; exhausting diseases, as- 
nervous or malignant fevers; suppurations in important or- 
gans, as the lungs, the liver, etc. Copious evacuations of 
blood, saliva, semen, etc., are also apt to produce this disease; 
and on this account, lying-in women, and nurses who are of 
slender constitution, and those who are too much addicted to 
venery, are often the subjects of this complaint This state 
of the system is also sometimes produced by poisons; namely, 
arsenic, mercury, lead in miners, printers, gilders, etc. A 
species of atrophy takes place in old people, in whom an en- 
tire loss of strength and flesh brings on a termination of life 
without the occurrence of any positive disorder. It is known 
as the marasmus senilis, or atrophy of old people. Atro- 
phy is of frequent occurrence, in infancy, as a consequence 
of improper, unwholesome food; exposure to cold, damp, or 
impure air, etc., producing a superabundance of mucus in the 
bowels, worms, obstructions of the mesenteric glands, follow- 
ed by extreme emaciation: which states of things are often 
fatal, although the efforts of the physician are sometimes suc- 
cessful, when all the causes of the disease have been previ- 
ously removed. A local state of the same kind is sometimes 
produced in single limbs, by palsies, or the pressure of tu- 
mors upon the nerves of the limb, etc., and is generally cura- 
ble by removing the cause. 

TREATMENT. 

Our most stimulating agents, externally applied, are com- 
petent to overcome this disease; at the same time, tonics, and 
a due regard to regimen, may be necessary, in severe cases. 
A number of cases of atrophy have come under our observa- 
tion — some cases of old men, who were remarkably relieved 
in a very short time. 



LEPROSY. 253 



LEPROSY. 



Leprosy; a name given to several different diseases. The 
elephantiasis is sometimes called leprosy of the Jirabs. The 
leprosy of the Jews, is distinguished by white, cutaneous 
spots, composed of smaller spots, which appear sometimes in 
one place, and sometimes in another, and are covered with a 
rough, scaly matter. It appears to have been the leuce of the 
Greek writers. The Greek leprosy is characterized by hard, 
insensible tubercles, which appear upon the skin, and are ac- 
companied by a progressive insensibility, and the loss of the 
voice. It is endemic in Egypt, Java, and some parts of Nor- 
way and Sweden. 

The use of unhealthy articles of food seems to be one of 
its causes. It is hereditary and contagious. It was intro- 
duced into Western Europe, in the time of the Crusades, but 
has gradually disappeared. The tubercles which characterize 
leprosy, appear in different parts of the skin; they are hard, 
rough, and numerous, and cause the loss of the hair, at the 
places where they appear. They finally terminate in ulcers, 
which penetrate even to the bone, producing a caries. They 
also cause the suppuration of parts of the body, the toes and 
fingers, for example, dropping off. These symptoms are ac- 
companied with a languor in the motions, a dullness of the 
sense, a change of the voice, offensive breath, and lethargy. 

There are three sorts of leprosy — the squamous, or scaly; 
the crustaceous, in which the skin is covered with crusts; and 
the tuberculous. The remedy recommended for this disgust- 
ing disease, is light food, such as vegetables, soups, milk. All 
remedies are too frequently unavailing. 

In the middle ages, leprosy, under all the forms of disease 
to which this term has been applied, seems to have been very 
common and general. It should, however, be observed, that 
almost all cutaneous disorders were considered as of a leprous 
nature, and treated as such. From the sixth to the fifteenth 



254 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

century, these loathsome diseases attracted the attention of 
the lawgivers, and of the benevolent, and we find numerous 
ordinances relating to lepers, affecting their civil rights, and 
great numbers of lazar-houses in all the countries of Europe. 
In the historians of those times, therefore, we are to consider 
the word leprosy, as used indiscriminately of all cutaneous 
diseases; and we may well be astonished and shocked to find 
that all such patients were treated somewhat after the manner 
prescribed in Leviticus, for the Jewish leprosy. They were 
in fact, treated as civilly dead. Their funeral obsequies were 
performed, and masses said for the benefit of their souls. 
Their marriage ties were dissolved, but a leper might enter 
into a new connection with a person who was also afflicted 
with the disease. They were allowed to enter the cities at 
certain seasons, but were required to give notice of their ap- 
proach, by sounding a rattle. The consequences of such a 
treatment, may be easily imagined. The improved condi- 
tion of the lower classes, in food, clothing, and manner of 
living, in general, and the advancement of medical science, 
have contributed to eradicate this loathsome and disgusting 
malady. 

TREATMENT. 

Though the leprosy has never afflicted our country, neither 
have our preparations ever been applied thereto, we contend 
that our powerful stimulants, antiseptics, and alteratives, are 
admirably adapted to the disease. 

In all diseases, wherein there is some similarity to the lep- 
rosy, wdiich have been treated with our remedies, they have 
been readily overcome. Our alteratives internally given, and 
our Stimulating Liniment externally applied, have a power- 
ful effect in cutaneous or uterious diseases. They are more 
ready in removing gangrene, than any remedies with which 
we are acquainted. Many cases, where suppuration had taken 
place, and the bones been carious, have been cured by our 
preparations; and the facts are so striking, that we are enabled 
to substantiate them beyond the possibility of a doubt. 



DIABETES. 255 



DIABETES. 



This is an affection of a very peculiar nature, and which, 
both with respect to its origin, its approximate cause, and its 
treatment, has given rise to much controversy. Its most re- 
markable symptoms are, a great increase in the quantity of 
urine, a voracious appetite, a stoppage of the cutaneous pers- 
piration, thirst, emaciation, and great muscular debility. The 
urine is not only prodigiously increased in its quantity, but 
likewise has its composition essentially changed. The urea, 
or constituent of the urine, is entirely removed, or exists in 
a very small proportion, while we find in its stead, a body 
possessing the physical and chimical properties of sugar. 
Whether diabetic diners essentially from vegetable sugar, is 
to be regarded more as a chimical question, than as what, in 
any respect, influences either the pathology or practice; and 
it has been a subject of controversy, whether there be a pro- 
per diabetes, insipedus that is, a disease attended with the 
increased discharge of urine, the voracious appetite, and the 
morbid state of the skin, but when the urine does not contain 
sugar. The disease has been attributed to improper diet; to 
the use of spirituous liquors; to large quantities of watery 
fluids; to exposure to cold, during perspirations; to violent 
exercise; and, in short, to every thing that might have a ten- 
dency to weaken the system, or to impair the digestive or- 
gans. Many or all of the above causes may have a tendency 
to bring the disease into action, though it is yet in dispute 
whether they be the producing causes. 

The proximate has been no less a subject of controversy 
than the exciting cause; and on this point, two hypotheses 
have divided the opinions of pathologists: some have ascribed 
it to a primary affection of the stomach, and the function of 
assimilation; and others, to a primary disease of the liver. 



256 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



TREATMENT. 



Stimulants generally, tonics and diaphoretics, are consider- 
ed indispensible in the treatment of the disease. We have 
succeeded in curing the complaint, by an application of our 
Vegetable Cerate, to the whole length of the urethra, and in 
the region about it; at the same time, apply the Stimulating 
Liniment on the back, bowels, and stomach. Take Diapho- 
retic Drops and Tonic Bitters; avoid the use of sugar, or any 
kind of sweet, and principally subsist on meat and bread. 
The saline bath may be used to great advantage in this com- 
plaint. It is also of much importance that the patient should 
avoid exposure to sudden changes of atmosphere. 



CHAP. XII. 



CONGESTION. 

The different parts of the human body do not always re- 
ceive the same quantity of blood, but sometimes more, some- 
times less. Thus, for instance, during digestion, it flows to- 
wards the stomach and the liver; during violent or long- 
continued speaking, singing, or running, it collects in the 
lungs and the heart; during close thinking, in the brain. In 
general, the blood flows in greater quantities into any part, in 
proportion to the action of that part; but, in a state of health, 
it flows off with as much rapidity as it collects. Sometimes, 
however, too much blood accumulates in an organ, and re- 
mains too long in it, and this injures the structure and the 
function of such an organ. This accumulation of blood arises 
from a diseased state of the system, and is called congestion. 

Congestion may be occasioned by whatever, in general, ac- 
celerates the circulation of the blood, and causes it to tend to 
a particular part; thus, for instance, among the causes of con- 
gestion, are the different periods of development of the human 
body, each of which renders some particular organ unusually 
active; the crisis of disease; and, lastly, the accidental exer- 
tions of certain organs. Under such circumstances, congestion 
is produced by an excited state of the arteries in general, and 
of some particular ones especially. Secondly, if the current 
of blood to one organ is checked, it accumulates in another. 
Hence colds caught through exposure of the feet, also the 
suppression of the secretions, etc., so often cause congestion. 
Thirdly, the vessels which bring back the blood (the veins) 
are sometimes in a condition unfit to answer their destination; 
as, for instance, if they are already too full; if their power to 
33 



258 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

receive the blood, and to propel it, is lost or diminished; or if 
the}^ are prevented from performing their functions by exter- 
nal pressure, or by tumors. Hence congestions are divided 
into active and passive; those of the arteries, and those of the 
veins. 

Where the blood accumulates, the part becomes red and 
hot, the pulse beats more violently, and the veins expand; the 
part swells, and a feeling of sickness, pain, pressure, etc., 
comes on. The functions of the part change; if the conges- 
tion is slight, they become more active. In higher degrees of 
congestion, and if it is continued for a long time, the func- 
tions are checked, weakened, and sometimes entirely destroy- 
ed. Now, as every organ has its peculiar function, it follows, 
that the symptoms of congestion resting on these grounds, 
must be very different, according to the different organs in 
which it takes place. During the congestion of blood in one 
organ, the other organs exhibit symptoms of want of blood; 
viz: coldness, paleness, diminution of size, and weakness. 

Congestion generally lasts but a short time; but if not early 
cured, and its return, which would otherwise be frequent, 
prevented, it is only the beginning of other diseases. Some- 
times it terminates in bleeding, which is a bad remedy for it; 
sometimes it increases into inflammation; sometimes it be- 
comes a chronic disease — that is, the blood accumulates for a 
long time, and expands the veins; the expansion becomes per- 
manent, and the original excitement is succeeded by a state of 
torpidity and weakness, which is called stagnatio, or infrac- 
tus. 

TREATMENT. 

In all cases of congestion, our Liniments and Diaphoretic 
Drops may be depended upon to afford very speedy relief. 
The Liniment externally applied to the body generally, and 
particularly to the head and feet, will cause a free circulation 
of the blood, and relief is the natural result. 



JAUNDICE. 259 



ICTERUS, OR JAUNDICE. 



Jaundice, according to Doctor Thomas' description, is 
manifested by a yellowness of the skin, more especially ob- 
servable in the tunica conjunctiva of the eyes; a bitter taste 
in the mouth; a sense of pain or uneasiness in the right hypo- 
chondrium; whitish, or clay-colored faeces, and the urine ob- 
scurely red, tinging things dipped into it with a yellowish 
color. It takes place most usually, in consequence of an in- 
terrupted secretion of the bile, from an obstruction in the 
ductus communus choledochus, which occasions its passing 
again into the blood-vessels. In some cases, however, it may 
be owing to a redundant secretion of the bile. The causes 
producing the first of these are, the presence of biliary calculi 
in the gall bladder and in its ducts; inspissated bile; spasmo- 
dic constriction of the ducts themselves; and lastly, the press- 
ure made by tumors situated in adjacent parts: hence jaundice 
is an attendant symptom on chronic inflammation or scirrhosi- 
ty of the liver, pancreas, etc., and also, frequently, on preg- 
nancy. 

The proximate cause of icterus, or jaundice, is an absorp- 
tion, or regurgitation of the bile into the vascular system. 
Chronic bilious affections are frequently brought on by drink- 
ing freely, but more particularly by spiritous liquors; hence 
they are often to be observed in dram-drinkers. They are 
likewise to be met with in those who lead a sedentary life, 
and who indulge much in anxious thoughts. A slight degree 
of jaundice often proceeds from a redundant secretion of the 
bile; and a bilious habit is, therefore, constitutional to some 
people, but more particularly those who reside long in a warm 
climate. By attending to the various circumstances and 
symptoms which present themselves, we shall, in general, be 
able to ascertain with much certainty the real nature of the 
cause of the disease. 



260 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

Nature has contrived that each part of the body should per- 
form its proper duty in maintaining health; and if there were 
no obstructions, there never would be any disease. The gall- 
bladder grows on the liver, and is placed between that and the 
stomach; so that when the latter is filled with food, the bile 
is discharged into the stomach to digest it. The bile never 
makes disorder, for it is perfectly innocent, being nature's 
friend; and those appearances called bilious, show the effect 
of the disease, and not the cause. The gall is a very bitter 
substance; and it is the practice of physicians to order bitter 
medicines to cure the jaundice. This seems to be the uni- 
versal opinion, which is correct, although it certainly contra- 
dicts the notion that there is too much bile: if there be too 
much, why give medicine to make more? As it is evident 
that the jaundice is an affection which is diffused through the 
whole system, the only means to clear the system of it is to 
use such medicines as will remove the corrupted humors, and 
those that will assist and open the glands and secretory ves- 
sels, in discharging the serosity or enemy that has entered 
into the system. 

TREATMENT. 

Though jaundice is a disease which has baffled the skill of 
many learned physicians, an effectual cure is so ready, simple, 
and certain, with our remedies, that it will require but a short 
statement of the mode of treatment: — 

1st. Let the Fever Liniment be applied, as in bilious fever, 
accompanied with our Pectoral Tincture, in doses sufficient to 
cause vomiting and cleanse the stomach. This will cause a 
powerful perspiration, and the secretory organs will perform 
their office. If the appetite be poor, the Stimulating Lini- 
ment ought to be applied to the stomach freely, and repeated 
twice or thrice a day. If the patient be costive, gentle ca- 
thartics may be administered. 

2d. A tea made of seneca snake-root, and, as a change, 
smart-weed tea, may be given as a common drink. 



NERVOUS DISEASES. 261 

This course will effect a cure, if persevered in, if relief can 
be gained by the use of any medicine known, or a cure be 
possible. 

NERVOUS DISEASES. 

Nervous diseases are such as consist in disturbed affections 
of sense and motion, unattended by any chronic or acute in- 
flammation, or hemorrhage, or by any disturbance of the circu- 
lation. Nervous pains are called neuralgia. Spasms are in- 
voluntary contractions in organs which have muscular fibers, 
or which are merely susceptible of contraction; convulsions 
are involuntary and irregular contractions, alternating with 
relaxations, in one, or several, or all of the muscles, simulta- 
neously or successively. Tetanus is a permanent contraction 
of a certain class of muscles, ordinarily followed by death. 
Contraction is a retraction of the flexor muscles of one mem- 
ber, or of two parallel members. Paralysis is the diminution 
or loss of sensibility in an organ of sense, or the contractility 
in an organ of motion. 

The pains, spasms, paralyses, take different names, accord- 
ing to the parts affected. The most remarkable of all the 
neuroses, is apoplexy, which is characterized by the suspen- 
sion, or successive loss of sense and understanding, as well as 
motion. The affections of the mind, known under the names 
of mental alienation, insanity, idiocy, etc., are also neuroses; 
that is, disturbances in the action of the nervous system. It 
has been asserted, that nervous diseases are rendered more 
common by the progress of civilization; and in fact, the 
nerves become more irritable, and therefore more liable to be 
diseased, with the progress of intelligence. But the refine- 
ment of the moderns in their food and drinks; in the use of 
fermented liquors, wine, coffee, and tea, is the most common 
cause of nervous maladies. The early and excessive use of 
these liquors, provokes the nerves and diseases the stomach, 
and gives rise to cerebral fevers in children, to the vapors or 



262 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

hysterics in women, and to hypochondria, apoplexy, and para- 
lysis, in men. It is not always easy to distinguish the symp- 
toms of neurosis from those of inflammation; but, as the treat- 
ment in the two cases must be entirely different, it is of the 
greatest importance to use every caution in this respect. Par- 
ticular medicines, which were considered as specific remedies 
in nervous diseases, were formerly in use; but experience has 
proved the superiority of warm bathing, soothing drinks, 
vegetable diet, exercise, and recreations. The treatment of 
nervous diseases, however, has often embarrassed the scienti- 
fic practitioner, as they often resist the most skillful and saga- 
cious applications. 

Remark. — Notwithstanding nervous aflections are consid- 
ered the most difficult to be overcome, it is with peculiar plea- 
sure we are enabled to state, that the variety of preparations 
we have compounded for the various forms of neuralgia, have 
heretofore been competent to every exigency; even the ma- 
niac has been restored to right reason; the sufferer from tic 
douloureux, fits, Saint Vitus' dance, spasms, hysteria, etc. etc., 
all have been benefited by our remedies. There has been so 
much recorded in this work on the subject, that whoever reads 
it, will not remain in doubt, or at a loss in what manner to 
treat almost every form of the disease. 



TIC DOULOUREUX — NEURALGIA. 

Neuralgic pains, generally, are not produced by any ap- 
preciable organic lesion; they occur in every part of the body, 
and often return periodically. The disease is most frequently 
partial; sometimes, though rarely, it is general; and is not 
necessarily attended by fever. The tic douloureux is a strik- 
ing example of this affection; writers on the subject have 
classed it as a surgical disease — but the facts which we have 
brought to light by the unparalleled success we have had in 
relieving it by an application of our remedies, has proven be- 
3^ond a doubt that it ought to be treated with medical means. 



NEURALGIA. 263 

The bladder, the stomach, and the bowels, and, it would ap- 
pear, the heart also, are liable to be affected by neuralgia. 
The most troublesome, and most frequent forms of the dis- 
ease, are those abdominal pains which affect women, more 
particularly at the menstrual periods, which shoot down the 
thighs. They sometimes appear to begin in the back, and 
extend towards the abdomen; in which case, the bowels are 
generally found obstinately costive. When this is the case, 
the patient will find a sure relief from costiveness, by the ex- 
hibition of our Vegetable Syrup. More permanent relief will 
be gained by this course, than can be expected by a resort to 
cathartics. Affections of the bladder frequently supervene, 
particularly if the attack come on during the menstrual period. 
The causes of neuralgic pains are frequently unknown and 
obscure; but they may be traced occasionally to the organs 
connected with digestion, and in some instances probably 
may be connected with diseases of the spinal marrow, or in 
the nerves themselves. Sometimes in tic douloureux, the 
pain has left the part affected, and has attacked another nerve 
in the vicinity — a strong proof that the disease is more deep- 
ly rooted in the system than is commonly imagined. When 
this occurs, a full application of our Nerve Liniment to the 
region newly affected, must be adopted, and at the same time 
make an application over the whole body. 

TREATMENT. 

In the treatment of neuralgic affections, proper regulation 
of the bowels, diet, and habits of the patient, and avoiding 
exposures in damp weather, are all points of the utmost im- 
portance. In addition to the use of our Nerve Liniment, 
Syrup, Diaphoretic Drops, and Pectoral Tincture, we would 
recommend tonic bitters, and a common drink to be made of 
American valerian. The wearing a plaster over the abdomi- 
nal region, of our Stimulating Liniment, and small plasters of 
the same on the bottoms of the feet, have been found useful: 
sometimes the saline bath, accompanying the other prescrip- 



264 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

tions, has been beneficial. With a persevering course as above 
directed, the patient is sure of some relief; and in most cases, 
a radical cure will follow. We have witnessed a number of 
cases of tic douloureux of very distressing character, which 
have been overcome by an application of our Nerve Liniment 
alone — though we would recommend a full course of the 
remedies, as being more safe, and sure of effecting a perfect 
cure. A vast number of cases of neuralgic affections, have 
been successfully treated by our remedies. We are enabled 
to dispense with narcotics entirely — we remove pain by 
giving action to the circulating fluids, relaxing the muscles, 
and at the same time giving strength to the system. 



CHAP. XIII. 
CRETINISM— SWELLED NECK— BRONCHOCELE. 

Cretinism makes a very close approach to rickets, in its 
general symptoms. It differs principally in its tendency to 
that peculiar enlargement of the thyroid gland, which, in 
France, is denominated goitre, and in the mental imbecility 
which accompanies it from the first. The enlargement of the 
gland does not always, however, accompany the other symp- 
toms, though it does generally. 

Cretinism was first distinctly noticed and described by 
Plater, about the middle of the seventeenth century, as occur- 
ring among the peasants in Carinthia, and the Valais. It was 
afterwards found, in a still severer form, in other valleys of 
Switzerland, and the Alps generally. It has since been de- 
tected in various other regions, where the country exhibits 
similar features, as among a miserable race, called cagots, in- 
habiting the hollows of the Pyrenees, whose district and his- 
tory have been described by Mr. Raymond; and in Chinese 
Tartary, where it is represented as existing, by Sir George 
Staunton. 

On the first discovery of cretinism, it was ascribed by some 
to the use of snow water, and by others to the use of water 
impregnated with calcareous earth, both of which opinions 
are without foundation. The first is sufficiently disproved 
by the fact, that persons born in places contiguous to the gla- 
ciers, and who drink no other water, than what flows from 
the melting ice and snow, are not subject to this disorder; and 
on the contrary, that the disorder is observed in places where 
snow is unknown. The second is contradicted by the fact, 
that the common water of Switzerland, instead of being im- 
34 



266 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

pregnated with calcareous matter, excels that of most other 
countries in Europe, in purity and flavor. The water usually 
drank at La Batea and Martigny, is from the river Dranse, 
which flows from the glacier of St. Bernard, and falls into the 
Rhone. It is remarkably free from earthy matter, and well- 
tasted. At Berne, the water is extremely pure; yet, as Haller 
remarks, swellings of the throat are not uncommon in both 
sexes, though cretinism is rare. As comfortable and conge- 
nial warmth, forms one of the best auxiliaries in attempting 
the cure of both cretinism and rickets, there can be no doubt 
the chill of snow water must considerably add to the general 
debility of the system, when laboring under either of these 
diseases, though there seems no reason for supposing that it 
would give rise to either. It is not difficult to explain why 
water, impregnated with calcareous earth, should have been 
regarded as the cause; for in cretinism, as in rickets, the cal- 
careous earth, designed by nature for the formation of the 
bones, is often separated, and floats loose in various fluids of 
the body, for want of a sufficiency of phosphoric acid, to con- 
vert it into a phosphate of lime, and give it solidity. And 
as it is, in consequence, pretty freely discharged in the urine, 
this seems to have given rise to the opinion, that such calca- 
reous earth was introduced into the system, with the common 
water of the lakes or rivers, and thus produced the morbid 
symptoms. M. de Saussure has assigned the real cause of 
the disease. The valleys of the Alps, he tells us, are sur- 
rounded by very high mountains, sheltered from currents of 
fresh air, and exposed to the direct, and, what is worse, the 
reflected rays of the sun. They are marshy, and hence the 
atmosphere is humid, close, and oppressive; and when to these 
causes we add the meagre, innutritious food of the poor of 
these districts, their indolence and uncleanness, with a pre- 
disposition to the disease, from a hereditary taint of many 
generations, we can sufficiently account for the prevalence of 
cretinism, in such places, and for the humiliating character 
which it assumes. 



SWELLED LEG. 267 

The general symptoms of cretinism are the same as those 
of rickets; but the disease shows itself earlier, often at birth, 
and not unfrequently before this period, apparently commenc- 
ing with the procreation of the foetus, and affording the most 
evident proofs of ancestral contamination. The child, if not 
deformed and diseased at birth, soon becomes so; the body is 
stinted in its growth^ and the organs in their development. 

TREATMENT. 

Testimony appears in this work, of a number of cases of 
swelled neck, which have been reduced by our remedies, and 
reference thereto will enable the reader to learn the course 
which has been successfully adopted. 



PHLEGMASIA DOLENS- SWELLED LEG. 

This disease principally affects women in the puerperal 
state; in a few instances it has been observed to attack preg- 
nant women. Women of all descriptions are liable to be at- 
tacked by it, during or soon after child-bed; but those whose 
limbs have been pained or anasarcous during pregnancy, and 
who do not suckle their offspring, are more especially subject 
to it. It has rarely occurred oftener than once to the same 
female. It supervenes to easy and natural, as well as to diffi- 
cult and preternatural births. It sometimes makes its appear- 
ance in twenty-four or forty-eight hours after delivery, and 
at other times, not till a month or six weeks after; but, in 
general, the attack takes place from the tenth to the sixteenth 
day of the lying-in. It has, in many instances, attacked wo- 
men who were recovering from puerperal fever; and in some 
cases, has supervened or succeeded to thoracic inflammation. 
It not uncommonly begins with coldness and rigors; these 
are succeeded by heat, thirst, and other symptoms of pyrexia; 
and then pain, stiffness, and other symptoms of topical inflam- 
mation supervene. Sometimes the local affection is, from the 



268 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

first, accompanied with, but is not preceded by, febrile symp- 
toms. Upon other occasions, the topical affection is neither 
preceded by puerperal fever, nor rigors, etc. ; but soon after 
it has taken place, the pulse becomes more frequent, the heat 
of the body is increased, and the patient is affected with thirst, 
headache, etc. The pyrexia is very various in degree, in 
different patients, and sometimes assumes an irregular remit- 
tent or intermittent type. The complaint generally takes 
place on one side only at first, and the part where it commen- 
ces is various; but it most commonly begins in the lumbar, 
hypogastric, or inguinal region, on one side, or in the hip, or 
top of the thigh, and corresponding labium pudendi. In this 
case, the patient first perceives a sense of pain, weight, and 
stiffness, in some of the above mentioned parts, which are in- 
creased by every attempt to move the pelvis, or lower limb. 
If the part be carefully examined, it generally is found rather 
fuller or hotter than natural, and tender to the touch, but not 
discolored. The pain increases, always becomes very severe, 
and in some" cases, is of the most excruciating kind. It ex- 
tends along the thigh, and when it has subsisted for some 
time, longer or shorter in different patients, the top of the 
thigh, and the labium pudendi become greatly swelled, and 
the pain is then sometimes alleviated, but accompanied with 
a greater sense of distention. The pain next extends down 
to the knee, and is generally most severe on the inside and 
back of the thigh, in the direction of the cutaneous and the 
crural nerves; when it has continued for some time, the whole 
of the thigh becomes swelled, and the pain is sometimes re- 
lieved. The pain then extends down the leg to the foot, and 
is commonly most severe in the direction of the posterior 
tibial nerve; after some time, the part last attacked begins to 
swell, and the pain abates in violence, but is still very con- 
siderable, especially on any attempt to move the limb. The 
extremity being now swelled throughout its whole extent, 
appears perfectly or nearly uniform, and it is not perceptibly 
lessened by an horizontal position, like an oedematodes limb. 
It is of the natural color, or even whiter; is hotter than natu- 



SWELLED LEG. 2 69 

ral; excessively tense, and exquisitely tender when touched. 
When pressed by the finger in different parts, it is found to 
be elastic, little, if any, impression remaining, and that only 
for a very short time. If a puncture or incision be made into 
the limb, in some instances, no fluid is discharged; in others, 
a small quantity only issues out, which coagulates soon after; 
and in others, a large quantity of fluid escapes, which does 
not coagulate: but the whole of the effused matter cannot be 
drawn off in this way. The swelling of the limb varies, both 
in degree and the space of time requisite for its full formation. 
Instead of beginning invariably at the upper part of the limb, 
and descending to the lower, the complaint has been known 
to begin in the foot, the middle of the leg, the ham, and the 
knee. In whichsoever of these parts it happens to begin, it 
is generally soon diffused over the whole of the limb; and, 
when this has taken place, the limb presents the same pheno- 
mena, exactly, that has been stated above, as observable when 
the inguen, etc., are first affected. After some days, generally 
from two to eight, the febrile symptoms diminish, and the 
swelling, heat, tensions, weight, and tenderness of the lower 
extremity, begin to abate; first, about the upper part of the 
thigh, or about the knee, and afterward in the leg or foot. 
Some inequalities are found in the limb, which at first feel 
like indurated glands, but upon being more nicely examined, 
their edges are not so well defined, as those of conglobate 
glands; and they appear to be occasioned by the effused mat- 
ter being of different degrees of consistence in different points. 
The conglobate glands of the thigh and leg, are sometimes 
felt distinctly, and are tender to the touch, but are seldom 
materially enlarged; and, as the swelling subsides, it has hap- 
pened that an enlargement of the lymphatic vessels, in some 
part of the limb, has been felt, or been supposed to be felt. 
The febrile symptoms having gradually disappeared, the pain 
and tenderness of the limb much relieved, and the swelling 
and tension being considerably diminished, the patient is de- 
bilitated and much reduced, and the limb feels stiff, heavy, 
benumbed, and weak. When the finger is pressed strongly 



270 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

against it for some time, in different points, it is found to be 
less elastic than at first, in some places retaining the impres- 
sion of the finger for a longer, in other places for a shorter 
time, or scarcely at all. And if the limb be suffered to hang 
down, or if the patient walk much, it is found to be more 
swelled in the evening, and assumes more of the oedematodes 
appearance. In this state the limb continues for a longer or 
shorter time, and is commonly at length reduced wholly, or 
nearly, to the natural size. 

Hitherto the disease has been described as affecting only 
one of the inferior extremities, and as terminating by resolu- 
tion, or the effusion of fluid that is removed by the absorbents; 
but, unfortunately, it sometimes happens, that after it abates 
in one limb, the other is attacked in a similar way. It also 
happens, in some cases, that the swelling is not terminated by 
resolution; for sometimes a suppuration takes place in one or 
both legs, and ulcers are formed which are difficult to heal. 
In a few cases, a gangrene has supervened. In some in- 
stances, the patient has been destroyed by the violence of the 
disease, before either suppuration or gangrene have happened. 
The predisposing causes of this disease, when it occurs during 
the pregnant or puerperal state, or in a short time afterwards, 
appear to be, 1st. The increased irritability and disposition to 
inflammation, which prevail during pregnancy, and in a still 
higher degree for some time after parturition. 2d. The over- 
distended, or relaxed state of the blood-vessels of the inferior 
part of the trunk and of the lower extremities, produced 
during the latter months of utero-gestation. Among the ex- 
citing causes of this disease, may be enumerated, 1st. Contu- 
sions, or violent exertions of the lower portions of the abdo- 
minal and other muscles inserted in the pelvis, or thighs, or 
of the muscles of the inferior extremities, and distentions of 
the cellular texture connected with these muscles, during a 
tedious labor. 2d. The application of cold and moisture, 
which are known to act very powerfully upon every system, 
in changing the natural distribution of the circulating fluids; 
and, consequently, in a system predisposed by parturition, 



SWELLED LEG. 271 

may assist in producing the disease, by occasioning the fluids 
to be impelled, in unusual quantity, into the weakened vessels 
of the lumbar, hypogastric, and inguinal regions, and of the 
inferior extremities. 3d. Suppression, or diminution of the 
lochia, and of the secretion of milk, which, by inducing a 
plethoric state of the sanguiferous system, may occasion an 
inflammatory diathesis, may favor congestion, and the deter- 
mination of an unusual quantity of blood to the vessels of the 
parts first mentioned, and thus contribute to the production of 
an inflammation of these parts. 4th. Food taken in too large 
quantities, and of a too stimulating quality, especially when 
the patient does not give suck. This cause both favors the 
production of plethora, and stimulates the heart and arteries 
to more frequent and violent action; the effects of which may 
be expected to be particularly felt in the lumbar, hypogastric, 
or inguinal regions, and in the lower extremities, rom the 
state of their blood-vessels. 5th. Standing, or walking too 
much, before the arteries and veins of the lower half of the 
body have recovered sufficiently from the effects of the dis- 
tention which exists during the latter months of pregnancy. 
This must necessarily occasion too great a determination of 
blood to these parts, and consequently, too great a congestion 
in them; whence they will be more stimulated than the upper 
parts of the body, and inflammation will sometimes be ex- 
cited in them. 

TREATMENT. 

In the first place, we would recommend the portion of the 
affected limb to be kept as much as possible in a horizontal 
position, cushioned, in such a manner as to admit a free cir- 
culation of the blood. Let the limb be rubbed twice a day 
with our Stimulating Liniment; apply plasters of the same 
to the bottoms of the feet. Bandages may be applied, com- 
mencing at the foot and bandage upwards. Once in two or 
three days, steam the limb with bitter herbs, and then apply 
the Liniment as before directed. Let the patient take our 



272 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

Alterative Drops in small doses, three or four times a day, 
say twelve or fifteen drops at a time; take the Vegetable Sy- 
rup two or three times a day. It would be well to apply 
bottles of hot water to the feet, and along the limb, to cause 
perspiration, and to assist in the more readily causing a free 
circulation of the blood. Meats and oily substances are to 
be avoided in the diet. Sometimes it will require a number 
of weeks to restore the limb to its usual soundness. But we 
have known many cases overcome in a short time, by faith- 
fully persevering in the above prescriptions. 

HYDROCEPHALUS; 

A genus of diseases arranged by Cullen in the class cachexia, 
and order intumescentiae. It is distinguished by authors into 
external and internal. 1. Hydrocephalus externus, is a col- 
lection of water between the membranes of the brain. 2. 
Hydrocephalus internus, is when a fluid is collected in the 
ventricles of the brain, producing dilatation of the pupils, apo- 
plexy, etc. It is sometimes of a chronic nature, when the 
water has been known to increase to an enormous quantity, 
effecting a diastasis of the bones of the head, and an absorp- 
tion of the brain. Pain in the head, particularly across the 
brow, stupor, dilatation of the pupils, nausea, vomiting, and 
preternatural slowness of the pulse. 

Hydrocephalus is almost peculiar to children, being rarely 
known to extend beyond the age of twelve or fourteen; and 
it seems more frequently to arise in those of a scrofulous and 
rickety habit, than in others. It is an affection which has 
been observed to pervade families, affecting all, or a greater 
part of the children, at a certain period of their life; which 
seems to show that, in many cases, it depends more on the 
general habit, than on any local affection or accidental cause. 
The disease has generally been supposed to arise in conse- 
quence either of injuries done to the brain itself, by blows, 
falls, ect, from scirrhous tumors or excresences within the 



HYDROCEPHALUS. 275 

skull, from original laxity or weakness in the brain, or from 
general debility and an impoverished state of the blood. 

With respect to its proximate cause, very opposite opinions 
are still entertained by medical writers, which, in conjunc- 
tion with the equivocal nature of its symptoms, prove a source 
of considerable embarrassment to the young practitioner. 
Some believe it to be inflammatory, and bleed largely. Doc- 
tor Withering observes, that in a great many cases, if not in 
all, congestion, or slight inflammation, are the precursors to 
the aqueous accumulation. Doctor Rush thinks that instead 
of its being considered red and idiopathic dropsy, it should 
be considered only as an effect of a primary inflammation or 
congestion of blood in the brain. It appears, he says, that 
the disease, in its first stages, is the effect of causes which 
produce a less degree of that inflammation which constitutes 
phrenities; and that its second stage is a less degree of that 
effusion which produces serious apoplexy in adults. The 
former partakes of the nature of the chronic inflammation of 
Doctor Brown. There are others, again, who view the sub- 
ject in a very different light. Doctor Darwin supposes inac- 
tivity, or torpor of the absorbent vessels of the brain, to be 
the cause of hydrocephalus internus; but he confesses, in an- 
other part of his work, that the torpor of the absorbent ves- 
sels may often exist as a secondary effect. Doctor Whytt, 
who has published an ingenious treatise on the disease, ob- 
serves, the immediate cause of every kind of dropsy is the 
same; viz: such a state of the parts, as makes the exhalent 
arteries throw out a greater quantity of fluids than the absorb- 
ents can take up. From what he afterwards mentions, he evi- 
dently considers this state as consisting in debility. As many 
cases are accompanied with an increase or inflammatory ac- 
tion of the vessels of the brain, and others again, are observed 
to prevail along with general anasarca, it seems rational to 
allow, that hydrocephalus is, in some instances, the conse- 
quence of congestion, or slight inflammation of the brain, 
and that, in others, it arises either from general debility, or 
topical laxity. In admitting these as incontrovertible facts, 

as 



274 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

Doctor Thomas is, at the same time, induced to suppose that 
the causes of it, occurring from mere debility, are by no 
means frequent. 

The progress of the disorder has, by some, been divided 
into three stages. When it is accompanied by an increase or 
inflammatory action of the brain, as not uncommonly happens, 
its first stage is marked with many of the symptoms of py- 
rexia, such as languor, inactivity, loss of appetite, nausea, 
vomiting, parched tongue, hot dry skin, flushing of the face, 
headache, throbbing of the temporal arteries, and quickened 
pulse; which symptoms always suffer exacerbation in the 
evening, but towards morning become milder. When it is 
unaccompanied by any inflammatory action of the brain, 
many of these appearances are not to be observed. In these 
cases, it is marked by a dejection of the countenance, loss of 
appetite, pains over the eyes, soreness of the integuments of 
the cranium to the touch, propensity to the bed, aversion to 
being moved, nausea, and costiveness. The disease at length 
makes a remarkable transition, which denotes the commence- 
ment of its second stage. The child screams out, without 
being able to assign any cause; its sleep is much disturbed; 
there is considerable dilatation of the pupils of the eyes, with- 
out any contraction on their being exposed to light; lethargic 
torpor, with strabismus, or perhaps double vision, ensues, 
and the pulse becomes slow and unequal. In the third stage, 
the pulse returns again to the febrile state, becoming uncom- 
monly quick and variable, and coma, with convulsions, ensues. 
When the accumulation of water is very great, and the 
child young, the sutures recede a considerable way from each 
other, and the head, towards the end, becomes considerably 
enlarged. 

When recoveries have actually taken place in hydrocepha- 
lus, we ought probably to attribute more to the efforts of na- 
ture, than to the interference of art. It is always to be re- 
garded as of difficult cure. An accumulation of water in 
the ventricles of the brain, is one of the most common ap- 
pearances to be observed on dissection. In different cases, 



HYDROCEPHALUS. 275 

this is accumulated in greater or less quantities. It sometimes 
amounts only to a few ounces, and occasionally to some pints. 
When the quantity of water is considerable, the fornix is 
raised at its interior extremity, in consequence of its accumu- 
lation, and an immediate opening of communication is there- 
by formed between the lateral ventricles. The water is of a 
purer color, and more limpid than what is found in the drop- 
sy of the thorax or abdomen. It appears, however, to be 
generally of the same nature with water that is accumulated 
in these cavities. In some instances, the water in hydroce- 
phalus contains a very small portion of coagulable matter, and 
in others, it is entirely free from it. When the water is 
accumulated to a very large quantity in the ventricles, the 
substance of the brain appears to be a sort of pulpy bag, con- 
taining a fluid. The skull, upon such occasions, is very much 
enlarged in its size, and altered in its shape; and it appears 
exceedingly large in proportion to the face. On removing 
the scalp, the bones are found to be very thin, and there are 
frequently broad spots of membrane in the bone. These ap- 
pearances are, however, only to be observed when the dis- 
ease has been of some years continuance. In some cases, 
where the quantity of water collected is not great, the sub- 
stance of the brain has appeared to be indurated; and in oth- 
ers, softened. At times, the organ has been found to be 
gorged with blood; collections, also, of a viscid tenacious 
matter have been discovered in cysts, upon its external sur- 
face, and tumors have been found attached to its substance. 

treatment! 

Whatever conflicting opinions have existed among the 
most learned physicians, in regard to the nature and treat- 
ment of this most afflicting disease, and however various may 
be the forms which it assumes, it is a consoling fact, that our 
remedies have been successful in arresting the disease in every 
stage, and restoring the patient to perfect health, and in some 



276 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

instances, the relief has been so sudden, as to astonish those 
who were eye-witnesses to the relief given. 

Our first object is to determine the circulating fluids to the 
feet, which is effected by soaking the feet and legs in very 
warm salt water; wipe dry, and then apply the Stimulating 
Liniment to the feet and legs, and placing hot bottles of wa- 
ter thereto, and then apply the same Liniment upwards over 
the body; at the same time apply the Nerve Liniment to the 
top of the head, forehead, neck, etc., very freely, with an ex- 
hibition of our Diaphoretic Drops, in half tea-spoonful doses, 
in warm water, once in ten minutes, until a free perspiration 
takes place. If an emetic be indicated, let the patient take 
ten or fifteen drops of our Pectoral Tincture, once in fifteen 
minutes, until a vomiting takes place. This course ought to 
be repeated, if the first application does not afford full relief. 
In the mean time, the patient may drink freely of valerian 
or snake-root tea. 

This treatment has uniformly relieved the determination of 
the blood to the brain, diffused the water in the ventricles, and 
sometimes in a few hours restored the patient to a hopeful 
state of convalescence. 



CHAP. XIV 



HYDROPHOBIA. 

Hydrophobia: a peculiar disease, arising from the bite of 
a rabid animal. The animals most liable to be affected with 
madness, are dogs; but cats, wolves, foxes, etc., are also sub- 
ject to it. 

The following description of the way in which rabies affect 
dogs, is from a communication in the Sporting Magazine, 
September, 1825: — The symptoms of rabies in the dog, are 
the following, and are given nearly in the order in which they 
usually appear: An earnest licking, or scratching, or rubbing 
of some particular part; sullenness, and a disposition to hide 
from observation; considerable costiveness, and occasional 
vomiting; an eager search for indigestible substances, as bits 
of thread, hair, straw, and dung; an occasional inclination to 
eat its own dung, and a general propensity to lap its own 
urine. The two last are perfectly characteristic. The dog 
becomes irritable; quarrels with his companions; eagerly 
hunts and worries the cat; mumbles the hand or foot of his 
master, or perhaps suddenly bites it, and then crouches and 
asks pardon. As the disease proceeds, the eyes become red; 
they have a peculiar bright and fierce expression; some de- 
gree of strabismus, or squinting, very early appears — not the 
protrusion of the membrana nictitans, or hair over the eyes, 
which, in distemper, often gives the appearance of squinting, 
but an actual distortion of the eyes; the lid of one eye is evi- 
dently more contracted than that of the other; twitchings oc- 
cur round that eye; they gradually spread over that cheek, 
and finally over the whole face. In the latter stage of the 
disease, that eye frequently assumes a dull green color, and 



278 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

at length becomes a mass of ulceration. After several days ? 
the dog usually begins to lose a perfect control over the volun- 
tary muscles. He catches at his food with an eager snap, as 
if uncertain whether he could seize it; and he often fails in 
the attempt. He either bolts his meat almost unchewed, or, 
in the attempt to chew it, suffers it to drop from his mouth. 
This want of power over the muscles of the jaw, tongue, and 
throat, increases, and the lower jaw becomes dependent; the 
tongue protrudes from the mouth, and is of a dark, and almost 
black color. The animal is able, however, by a sudden con- 
vulsive effort, to close his jaws, and to inflict a severe bite. 
The dog is in incessant action; he scrapes his bed together, 
disposes it under him in various forms, shifts his posture every 
instant, starts up, and eagerly gazes at some real or imaginary 
object; a peculiar kind of delirium comes on; he traces the 
fancied path of some imaginary object floating around him ; 
he fixes his gaze intently on some spot in the wall or parti- 
tion, and suddenly plunges and snaps at it; his eyes then 
close, and his head drops, but the next moment he starts again 
to renewed activity: he is in an instant recalled from this de- 
lirium by the voice of his master, and listens attentively to 
his commands; but as soon as his master ceases to address 
him, he relapses into his former mental wandering. His 
thirst is excessive, (there is no hydrophobia, or fear of water, 
in the dog,) and the power over the muscles concerned in de- 
glutition being impaired, he plunges his face into the water up 
to the very eyes, and assiduously, but ineffectually, attempts 
to lap. In Johnson's Shooter's Companion, the author ob- 
serves: " In those instances of hydrophobia which have fallen 
under my notice, the animal has always been capable of lap- 
ping; however, in the disease called dumb madness, I have 
noticed symptoms similar to the above." His desire to do 
mischief depends much on his previous disposition and habits. 
I have known it not to proceed beyond an occasional snap, 
and then only when the animal was purposely irritated; but 
with the fighting dog, the scene is often terrific. He springs 
to the end of his chain; he darts with ferocity at some object 



HYDROPHOBIA. 279 

which he conceives to be within his reach; he diligently tears 
to pieces every thing about him; the carpet or rug is shaken 
with savage violence; the door or partition is gnawed asun- 
der; and so eager is he in this work of demolition, and so 
regardless of bodily pain, that he not .u infrequently breaks 
one or all of his tushes. If he effects his escape, he wan- 
ders about, sometimes merely attacking those dogs which fall 
in his way; and at other times he diligently and perseve- 
ringly hunts out his prey: he overcomes every obstable to 
effect his purpose; and unless he has been stopped in his 
march of death, he returns in about four and twenty hours, 
completely exhausted, to the habitation of his master. He 
frequently utters a short and peculiar howl, which if once 
heard can rarely be forgotten; or if he barks, it is with a 
short hoarse, inward sound, altogether dissimilar from his 
usual tone. In the latter stages of the disease, a viscid saliva 
flows from his mouth, with which the surface of the water 
that is placed before him is covered in a few minutes; and his 
breathing is attended with a harsh, grating sound, as if impe- 
ded by the accumulation of phlegm in the respiratory passa- 
ges. The loss of power over the voluntary muscles extends, 
after the third day, throughout his whole frame, and is par- 
ticularly evident in the loins; he staggers in his gait; there 
is an uncertainty in all his motions; and he frequently falls, 
not only when he attempts to walk, but when he stands ba- 
lancing himself as well as he can. On the fourth or fifth day 
of the disease, he dies, sometimes in convulsions, but more 
frequently without a struggle. After death, there will inva- 
riably be found more or less inflammation of the mucus coat 
of the stomach; sometimes confined to the ragse: at other 
times in patches, generally with spots of extravasated blood, 
and occasionally intense, and occupying the whole of that 
viscus. The stomach will likewise contain some portion of 
indigestible matter, (hair, straw, dung,) and, occasionally, it 
will be completely filled and distended by an incongruous 
mass. The lungs will usually present appearances of inflam- 
mation, more intense in one, and generally the left lung, than 



280 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

in the other. Some particular points and patches will be of 
a deep color, while the neighboring portions are unaffected. 
The sublingual and parotid glands will be invariably enlarged, 
and there will also be a certain portion of inflammation, 
sometimes intense, and at other times assuming only a faint 
blush, on the edge of the epiglottis, or on the rima glotttidis, 
or in the angle of the larynx, at the back of it. 

The hydrophobia seems to be spontaneous, and capable of 
being communicated only in certain animals — the dog, the 
wolf, the fox and the cat. All animals which have become 
rabid by a bite, do not appear to be able to transmit it to 
others; as the hog, cow, sheep. In regard to man, it is not 
certain whether the disease is communicable from the human 
subject. The hydrophobia is not commonly manifested in 
the time of greatest cold or greatest heat, but usually in 
March and April in wolves, and in May and September in 
dogs. It is rare in very warm or very cold climates. No 
particular cause of the rabies is known; it is a mistake to at- 
tribute it to a total privation of food, as a great number of 
experiments prove that this is not the effect of such treatment. 
All observations seem to prove the existence of a rabid virus 
which is more violent when it proceeds from wolves than 
from dogs; as out of a given number of persons bitten by a 
rabid wolf, a greater number will die than out of the same 
number bitten by a dog. The communication of the virulent 
hydrophobia by inoculation cannot be denied, and is the 
best proof of the existence of the virus. The virus appears to 
be contained solely in the saliva, and does not produce any 
effect on the healthy skin. But if the skin is deprived of 
the epidermis, or if the virus is applied to a wound, the inoc- 
ulation will take effect. The development of the rabid symp- 
toms is rarely immediate; it seldom takes place before the 
40th or after the 60th day. It begins with a slight pain in the 
scar of the bite, sometimes attended with a chill; the pain 
extends and reaches the base of the breast, if the bite was on 
the lower limbs, or the throat, if on the upper extremities. — 
The patient becomes silent, frightful dreams disturb his sleep; 



HYDROPHOBIA. 281 

the eyes become brilliant; pains in the neck and throat ensue. 
These symptoms precede the rabid symptoms two or three 
days. They are followed by a general shuddering at the ap- 
proach of any liquid or smooth body, attended with a sensa- 
tion of oppression, deep sighs and convulsive starts, in which 
the muscular strength is much increased. After the rabid fit, 
the patient is able to drink. The disposition to bite does not 
appear to belong to any animals except those whose teeth are 
weapons of offense ; thus, rabid sheep butt furiously. A foamy, 
viscid slaver is discharged from the mouth; the deglutition of 
solid matters is difficult, the respiration hard; the skin warm, 
burning, and afterwards covered with sweat; the pulse strong; 
the fit is often followed by a syncope; the fits return at first 
every few hours, then at shorter intervals, and death takes 
place generally on the second or third day. A great number 
of applications have been recommended, but without success. 

TREATMENT, 

The treatment of the disease is of two sorts; the one con- 
sists in preventing its development; the other in checking its 
progress. The former consists in cauterizing the wound with 
iron heated to a white heat, the pain of the cautery being less 
as the temperature is greater. The cautery is preferable to 
the use of lotions, liniments, etc.; but it should be employed 
within twelve hours after the bite. It has been said, that in 
patients who were about to become rabid, several little pus- 
tules filled with a serous matter appeared under the tongue, 
the opening of which would prevent the disease; but this is 
not well established. Various remedies have been prescribed 
for the cure of a declared hydrophobia. Bleeding, even to 
syncope, appears to have produced the greatest effect, but 
without complete success. Preparations of opium adminis- 
tered internally or by injection, mercurial frictions, belladon- 
na, emetics, sudorifics, purgatives, etc., have been tried ineffect- 
ually. Yet the physician should not despair, as a remedy 
which has failed in one case may succeed in another. Above 
36 



282 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

all, the patient should be treated gently, and his sufferings 
alleviated by consulting his comfort as much as possible, and 
the attendants should not forget that there is no instance of 
the rabies haying been communicated from one man to an- 
other. 

SICK STOMACH, OR MILK SICKNESS. 

This disease is never known, only in the barrens and prairies, 
and in the flat lands, in the United States. In these regions 
it is sometimes very distressing, frequently proving fatal, un- 
less speedy relief be obtained. Among those who are best 
acquainted with the disease, there are as many conflicting 
opinions as to its cause, as there are of the spasmodic cholera. 
Some attribute it to the malaria, or miasmata of the low lands; 
others, to an impure atmosphere, while others attribute it to 
the use of milk from cows which have fed on a variety of poi- 
sonous vegetable substances, or from feeding on the meat of 
such animals. One thing is certain, that none in the infected 
region become obnoxious to the disease, who entirely abstain 
from a milk and meat and butter and cheese diet. 

The disease commences with trembling sensation upon the 
slightest exertion — loss of appetite — slight sickness of the sto- 
mach, and sometimes a burning sensation is felt in that region. 
The pulse at this time is natural; skin dry, or a clammy 
sweat occurs, if the nausea is great; thirst, great languor, and 
indigestion. Sometimes these symptoms continue a few hours; 
sometimes for several days. The symptoms above described 
are followed by severe vomiting, great prostration of strength, 
and total loss of appetite. The skin very little above the 
natural temperature; the extremities are generally cold; pulse 
at first slow and full; as the disease progresses, they become 
small and feeble; great thirst; dull and heavy appearance of 
the eyes, and obstinate constipation, are the most striking 
characteristics of the disease. Vomiting, in from ten to thir- 
ty minutes; the matter ejected from the stomach is at first 
mixed with bile; afterwards, a fluid nearly of the thickness 



SICK STOMACH. 283 

of the white of an egg, and in many cases transparent. Vom- 
iting is preceded by a burning sickness at the stomach, which 
is temporarily relieved by vomiting; but in a few minutes 
the same sensations recur, and respiration becomes laborious; 
the patient continually shifting his position. The above are 
among the prominent characteristics of the disease which has 
baffled the skill of many physicians, but has been successfully 
treated with our remedies. 

TREATMENT. 

This disease may be confounded with the cholera morbus, 
or the bilious remittent fever, though its peculiar features vary 
much from either. The great objects to be obtained in treat- 
ing this disease, are — first, to allay vomiting, procure a free 
evacuation of the bowels, and restore an equilibrium of the 
system. At the first stage of the disease, administer an emetic 
of the pectoral tincture, which will expel the irritating matter 
from the stomach. But if the patient be much exhausted, 
omit the emetic and give preparations of alkali and aromatics; 
at the same time, let an application of the Fever Liniment be 
made over the whole surface of the body, and place hot bricks 
to the feet and sides, which will cause a free perspiration; and 
in order to have a sudden and safe operation on the bowels, 
take one drop of Croton oil once an hour. Take six drops of 
Croton oil, mix with one-eighth of an ounce of the same Lini- 
ment, and apply it to the abdomen; apply a warm flat-iron 
over the bowels, which will facilitate the operation. This 
may be repeated in three hours, if relief be not obtained from 
the first application, and so on, until full discharges occur. 
This mode is more safe and sure than to depend on internal 
remedies to move the bowels, as physic seldom if ever is 
made to operate in these cases in a less time than twenty-four 
hours. 

After the patient has obtained relief from disease, wash off 
with soap suds, and then apply the Liniment once or twice 
over the whole body, taking at the same time tonic bitters. 



284 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT* 



INFLUENZA 



The fact that this disease has of late years assumed more of 
the type of an epidemic than formerly, must be manifest to 
every attentive observer; and within the last year the mortal- 
ity in Europe and some parts of the United States has been 
nearly equal to that of the spasmodic cholera. To understand 
this disease, and to find a sure antidote, is of vast importance 
to the world. While the cholera raged most destructively 
among the poor, the influenza has raged among all classes of 
community. The rich have formed no exemption. The dis- 
tinctive features of the disorder appear to consist in the ex- 
tent to which the lungs have been implicated, the mucus 
membranes lining the air passages being in many cases in- 
flamed, and after a few days overloaded with viscid secre- 
tions, interfering with the arterialization of the blood. The 
oppression of breathing very urgent, attended with pain in 
the side. The pulse is generally soft, and when depletion is 
resorted to, delirium is apt to supervene. The cause of the 
seizure is generally attributed to the changes which so sud- 
denly occur in the atmosphere, from great dryness to great 
humidity, both states being accompanied with severe depres- 
sion of temperature. Notwithstanding much has been writ- 
ten on this interesting subject, such has been the conflicting 
opinions in regard to the real cause of the malady, and so 
changeful is its appearance in different countries and in differ- 
ent patients, that we shall labor more to point out a sure cure 
for the complaint, than to reconcile conflicting opinions of its 
proximate cause. 

TREATMENT. 

In no case would we recommend blood-letting. On the 
first attack, let the patient's feet be soaked in warm water; 
apply the Fever Liniment over the whole body, with plasters 
of the same to the bottoms of the feet, and a plaster on the 



fits. 285 

breast; hot bricks to the feet and sides; a full application of 
the Liniment to the neck and throat; wrap warm flannels 
about the neck; take Diaphoretic Drops sufficient to cause a 
free perspiration; take the Pectoral Tincture, in doses of from 
four to six drops, once an hour, or oftener, if the stomach be 
much overloaded by phlegm. These Drops may be taken in 
doses to cause vomiting, if, from the state of the patient, a 
vomit appears to be indicated. 

Repeat this sweating process once in six hours, until entire 
relief is given. The patient may drink freely of a mucilage 
of flaxseed or slippery-elm bark, taking the precaution to 
keep the bowels gently open. This treatment will generally 
relieve the patient within one or two days. It is sometimes 
necessary to depend almost entirely on the external applica- 
tion, and sometimes it may be advantageous to immerse the 
patient in a warm vapor bath. 

FITS. 

There are four kinds of fits, namely: apoplectic, epileptic, 
hysteric, and fainting fits. 

APOPLECTIC. 

The symptoms of this disease, are sudden falling to the 
ground, with deprivation of sense and motion, attended with 
deep sleep, and noisy breathing; the circulation remaining 
unimpaired. 

The causes are an excessive fullness of vessels, or a redun- 
dancy of blood, fullness of habit or body, hard drinking, too 
large doses of opium, blows, tight neckcloth, or whatever in- 
terrupts the return of the blood to the head. 

TREATMENT. 

Let the feet be immersed in very warm water; at the same 
time apply the Stimulating Liniment freely to the top of the 



286 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

head, on the neck and breast, and then to the whole body; and 
if it be caused by opium or strong drink, give ten or twenty 
drops of the Pectoral Tincture, or enough to cause vomiting; 
if from any other cause, give the Diaphorectic Drops, and 
place warm bricks to the feet, to produce speedy and profuse 
perspiration. This course, with friction of the hand, or a 
flesh brush, will generally give very ready relief. In some 
instances of this disease, the saline bath may be resorted to 
with advantage. 

EPILEPTIC. 

The patient falls suddenly, with a deprivation of sense, 
while the muscles of the face, and every part of the body, are 
violently convulsed. 

The causes are excessive drinking, sudden stoppage of the 
menses, severe fright, injuries to the head, teething in child- 
ren, and irritation of the stomach and intestines. 

TREATMENT. 

The treatment may be similar to that of apoplectic fits, 
with but little variation. The Fever Liniment, in this dis- 
ease, is preferable to the Stimulating, and the Pectoral Tinc- 
ture ought to be given in larger doses, and force down as 
much warm water as possible, until vomiting takes place free- 
ly. We have known the lock jaw relieved by the same 
means, only apply a double portion of the Liniment about 
the neck and jaws. 

HYSTERICS. 

This complaint appears under such various shapes, imitates 
so many other diseases, and is attended with such a variety of 
symptoms which denote the functions considered to be dis- 
ordered, that it is difficult to give a definition of it, and it is 
only by taking an assemblage of all its appearances, that we 
can convey any idea to others. This disease attacks in pa- 



fits. 287 

roxysms or fits. These are sometimes preceded by dejection 
of spirits, anxiety of mind, effusion of tears, difficulty of 
breathing, sickness at the stomach, and palpitation of the heart; 
but frequently it happens, that a pain is felt in the left side, 
with a sense of distension advancing upwards, until it arrives 
at the stomach, and then to the throat, with suffocating, faint- 
ing, stupor, insensibility; at the same time, limbs agitated, 
fits of laughter, crying, screaming, temporary delirium, and 
frothy saliva is discharged from the mouth. When the pa- 
tient recovers the exercise of sense and motion, there are no 
traces in the memory of what has transpired. There is se- 
vere pain in the head, and soreness over the whole body. In 
severe cases, there are no convulsions; the patient remains, 
to appearance, in a sound sleep, without any sense of motion. 
Hickup is sometimes the only apparent symptom. Unmar- 
ried women are the most subject to the disease, and often at- 
tacked about the commencement of menstruation. 

These fits are readily brought on by surprise, sudden joy, 
grief, fear, and by sympathy: by a Sedentary life, and by sup- 
pression or obstruction of menstrual flux, or by excessive 
evacuations. In fact, all these various symptoms are often 
caused by obstructions, weakness, and nervous affections. 

TREATMENT. 

In ail cases of hysteric fits, our Nerve Liniment is invalua- 
ble, both as an antidote and a remedy. It may be at first ap- 
plied to the most diseased organs, and afterwards over the 
whole body. Take of the Pectoral Tincture, as circumstan- 
ces may require. When the stomach and throat are affected, 
fifteen or twenty of these drops will give relief. We have 
never witnessed a case where these remedies have been inef- 
fectual. The disease is a distressing one, and merits more of 
the commiseration of physicians and friends, than is generally 
awarded. It is very important that the patient be treated 
with great delicacy and much kindness. 



288 DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT. 

It is not uncommon for flatulency or cholic to be an attend- 
ant on hysterics. When this is the case, our Essence of Life, 
taken in tea-spoonful doses, will afford immediate relief, 

Note. — In cases of spasmodic fits, which are produced by 
intemperance, or from almost any other cause, the first object 
to be effected, is to evacuate the stomach by a vomit. This 
can be effected by a strong solution of salt and water; after 
which, administer two drops of our Nerve Sanative, in warm 
water, once in fifteen minutes, and at the same time, make a 
free aplication of the same medicine to the throat and sto- 
mach, over which keep hot clothes, wet with camphor. As 
soon as the spasms subside, give a tea-spoonful of Essence of 
Life, in warm water, once or twice, which will relieve the 
great pressure at the breast. After which, apply a plaster of 
the Stimulating Liniment to the breast. 



PART II. 
TESTIMONIAL 



OUR CONCENTRATED MEDICAL COMPOUNDS. 

The unparalleled success which has attended our medical pre- 
parations, from their first introduction in their crude state to the 
present time, imposes upon us the duty of making use of exertions 
to render them more extensively a blessing to the human family. 

We shall give the testimonials of a large number of witnesses to 
the efficacy of our remedies rather than our own recommendations. 
The facts which have been elicited, through the medium of a vast 
number of experiments, warrant us in embodying them with other 
interesting matter, in the form of a volume. 

The cases which we publish embrace almost every form of dis- 
ease, and it will be seen, by reference thereto, that the cures have 
been effected principally by our external remedies. 

In examining the following testimonials, the reader will find 
that the practice is simple and easy to be understood ; he will also 
find that large and nauseous doses of medicine can be dispensed 
with. 

The manuscripts from which the following extracts are taken 
are in our possession, with the entire signature of each individual 
thereto affixed. 
37 



290 TESTIMONIAL, 



TESTIMONIALS. 

Scald Head. — The following is signed by the father of the 
patient, and relates to one of the most extraordinary cases of cure? 
of that disease, to be found in the annals of medicine. 

A daughter of mine, N. M., aged 17 years, was, two and a half 
years ago, afflicted with scald head. At first, little sores appeared 
all over her head, and her hair came off. In the month of June 
last, an application of Jewett's Cerate was made and continued 
with favorable effect ; and, in two months from the commence- 
ment of these applications, a complete cure was effected. During 
the whole time of using the medicine, her general health remained 
good and unimpaired. It should be noted that the whole surface 
of the head was affected to the thickness of a man's hand, and 
spread over with numerous boils, attended with redness and great 
heat. 

J. M. 



Piles. — I had been afflicted with the piles for twenty years : 
during the first ten years, periodically ; but, for the next ten years, 
the attacks were irregular, until, finally, I was scarcely at any 
time free from pain, and, a great portion of the time, suffered ex- 
tremely. I applied, three years since, Pile Salve prepared by 
Col. Jewett, as directed, and, in twenty-four hours, was wholly 
relieved from all pain and inconvenience of every kind. Three 
years have now passed away without a single return of the dis- 
ease. 

J. B. 



Sciatic Affection.* — Four years ago, I was attacked suddenly 
with sciatic affection, and a weakness and pain in the back, which 
continued, at intervals, two years, when the weakness and pain in 
the back became continual, and so remained until I applied a plas- 
ter of Jewetfs Stimulating Liniment. In about one week, I ex- 
perienced relief, and, by continuing the plaster four weeks, it has 
effected a cure. The last two years I was so weak in my back, 
and otherwise, that I could not lift ten pound weight. I had, 



SICK HEAD-ACHE, ETC. 291 

during this period, been attended by four eminent physicians, 
without the least relief. 

N. S. 



Severe Pains, attended with Fevers, Delirium, Cough, 
&c.-— About the middle of 11th month, 1834, I was taken with a 
severe pain in my head and right breast, attended with much 
soreness, difficulty of breathing, cough, some expectoration, 
numbness in my lower extremities, and high fever. My head 
was so much affected that I became entirely deranged. In this 
situation, my family were much alarmed, and, thinking that I was 
dying, sent for a physician, who ordered me, as I was afterwards 
informed, some mild diaphoretic tea, and, despairing of my life, 
directed, by way of experiment, an application of Jewett's Stimu- 
lating Liniment. This article was faithfully applied to my head, 
breast, stomach, and lower extremities, and, in a short time, I 
was very much relieved and restored to reason ; perspiration took 
place, my pains ceased, and I was very soon restored to perfect 
health. I have no doubt this Liniment was the means of prolong- 
ing my life. 

M. T. 



Sick Head-ache.—- At an early period of promulgating our re- 
medies, a severe case of sick head-ache of a female came under 
our treatment. This was the first case that we had seen which 
fully developed the powers of our medicines for the removal of 
that complaint. Though the patient had suffered long, the relief 
she gained was almost instantaneous. She soon became conva- 
lescent, and, shortly after, perfectly cured of the complaint. We 
notice this case as being the more extraordinary as, at the same 
time, the patient was laboring under uterine affections of long 
standing. The mode of application was such as we recommend 
in our directions, and which has continued to be so successful to 
the present time. 

Sick Head-ache.— .1 have been afflicted with sick head- ache, 
occasionally, for eight years, and, for the last two years, I was al 
no time clear of it, until about the 25th of August, last, when I ap- 



292 TESTIMONIAL. 

plied Jewett's Stimulating Liniment to the top of my head, back 
of the neck, behind the ears, on the forehead and breast, and, in 
just four minutes from the time of application, my head ceased to 
ache. It did not return on me for six weeks, and then only a 
slight attack, and I have never had it since. Previous to the ap- 
plication, I had been attended by most of the physicians of Co- 
lumbus without the least relief. 

URIAH STOTTS. 

City of Columbus, 

Mayor's Office, Jan. 6, 1835. 
Then the above named Uriah Stotts personally appeared, and 
made solemn oath that the statement above made by him is true, 
before me. 

JOHN BROOKS, Mayor. 

%CJ* It is now three years since Mr. Stott has been troubled 
with the head-ache, more than others who do not complain of it, 
as a disease ; but two years after he was cured, as he states, he 
was afflicted with a sore which had gathered in his head, and was 
discharged through the ear. A few applications of the Liniment 
to the head, and inside the ears, performed a thorough cure of the 
disease, and it has not returned upon him since. 



Dyspepsia, with Despondency of Mind. — More than one 
year and a half ago, I was attacked with dyspepsia — stomach and 
bowels much disordered — digestive powers impaired — dry skin— 
and despondency of mind. I had no hope of obtaining relief, 
until six months ago, I applied Jewett's Liniment to the surface 
of my body. In two or three days my skin became moist, a re- 
laxation took place in my system, and I directly became relieved. 
Soon after the application, I threw off, from my stomach, large 
quantities of the most offensive matter, which afforded me much 
relief. With this application alone, I have been cured of the dis- 
ease, and have remained in health ever since. 

J. W. 



Rheumatism. — About the 20th of November, 1834, I was taken 



WHITE SWELLING, ETC. 293 

with the rheumatism in one of my knees, which, in the course of 
one week, became much swollen and very painful, so much so 
that I could not walk without a couple of canes. I came to Co- 
lumbus on the 29th of November, and, on the third day after, ap- 
plied Jewett's Liniment to my knee and leg down to my foot ; in 
eight or ten days, I became entirely free from all pain, and still 
continue free from all appearance of the complaint. 

W. H. M. 



Bilious Fever.— I was attacked with severe pain in the head, 
back, bones, and legs, with hot fever and quick, hard pulse. I 
applied Jewett's Liniment on the whole surface of the body, and, 
immediately, all pain ceased. No other medicine was made use 
of, and, in about one day, I was restored to health. 

J. C.jS. 



Case of White Swelling.— -The following case of white 
swelling exhibits, perhaps, one of the most extraordinary cures 
ever performed by any medicine or mode of practice whatever. 
The history of it was given by the parents, and corroborated 
by the patient himself, an intelligent lad aged about 14 years. 
The indescribable pain and anguish which the sufferer had endured 
Jfor months, without a single moment of alleviation, and the extreme 
anxiety and unwearied attention of the parents, afford a theme 
which the imagination can scarcely reach, much less the pen 
describe. But suffice it now to say the lad is restored, the parents 
are relieved from their deepest cares and painful anxieties, of 
which the reader can form a better estimate after reading what 
follows : 

Timothy Cochrane, jr., bora in Ireland, September, 1820, was 
attacked in the year 1831 with a fever, by which he was reduced 
very low, and continued in a painful debilitated condition until the 
spring of 1832, when a white swelling made its appearance on his 
right hip, or upper part of his right thigh. The pain which he 
suffered from this swelling was of the most intolerable and excru- 
ciating character. It is impossible for any but those who saw 



294 TESTIMONIAL. 

him to form any conception of his suffering ; and he, himself, 
looks back with horror upon the dreadful scene through which 
he has passed. During the course of this painful malady, his at- 
tendants were obliged to resort to every means which humanity 
could suggest in order to afford the slightest mitigation of his suf- 
fering ; and so extremely sensitive did he become, that he could 
not bear the weight of the lightest blanket; but was obliged to 
have some person constantly to hold the bedding loosely over 
him. In short, death would have been welcomed by him a thou- 
sand times as "a friend, the kindest and the best." 

In the summer succeeding the attack of the swelling, his parents 
left Ireland for the United States. The agonizing pains of the 
awful malady accompanied him across the Atlantic, and deserted 
him not when he landed in the city of Montreal. The best phy- 
sicians in Ireland had attended him in vain ; and, on his arrival 
in Canada, three surgeons of the British army at Montreal and 
Little York were speedily consulted with no better success. 
From Montreal the family moved to Buffalo, where the advice of 
two eminent physicians from the city of New York was procured, 
who, as well as all others consulted, pronounced it a most despe- 
rate, if not an utterly incurable case. 

In the fall of 1832, the family settled in this city, when he re- 
ceived the attention of all the principal physicians in the place, 
and was abandoned by them all as incurable. Some time during 
the winter of 1832-'3, it was deemed proper to open the swelling, 
which was accordingly done, the pain still continuing as severe as 
ever. 

In the spring of 1833, however, the pain in the hip abated ; but 
he still continued extremely ill, very feeble, and without an appe- 
tite for food. In July, of the same year, he took the ordinary 
chill and fever of this climate, and, soon after, was attacked with 
dropsical swellings of the feet and legs, gradually extending to the 
abdomen and then to the head. The swelling, eventually, be- 
came very large, the bowels were enormously distended, the head 
nearly double the natural size, and the neck measuring about as 
large, in circumference as the head. His bowels, as is usual in 
such cases, were extremely irregular, either obstinately costive, 
or very much relaxed : his right leghad become very crooked and 
stiff: seven ulcers were located about the hip and groin, and all 



WHITE SWELLING. 2.95 

the attendant symptoms indicated certain and speedy dissolution. 
It was in this most deplorable condition that his situation be- 
came accidentally known to Col. Jewett, when he immediately 
recommended the application of his Stimulating Liniment. In- 
ternal remedies were used at the same time, and, among others, 
one emetic. The other medicines were such tonics and purifiers 
of the blood as accompany Col. Jewett's remedies. The Liniment 
was applied to nearly the whole surface of the body, particularly 
the bowels, hip, and diseased leg, at the rate of four ounces per 
week. This course soon reduced the dropsical swellings, regu- 
lated the bowels, disposed the ulcers to heal, restored the appe- 
tite and general health, and made the patient comparatively com- 
fortable and happy. Jewett's remedies were first applied about 
the 1st of July last, and now (six months since) all the symptoms 
of disease are removed, the ulcers all healed up, and the hip ap- 
pears sound and well. The leg is becoming more and more 
straight and useful to him, with the prospect that he will eventu- 
ally be able to do entirely without his staff and crutch, and enjoy 
good sound health. The following certificate is from the parents 
of the patient : 

We certify that the above and foregoing statement, relative to 
our son, is strictly true, though falling far short of the dreadful 
reality of the case. 

T. C, 
B. C. 

IC? 35 It is now more than two years since Timothy Cochrane, 
jr., was cured of the white swelling as above stated, and he now 
resides in this city— has enjoyed perfect health, walks without a 
crutch, and, though one leg is much shorter than the other, he 
experiences but little inconvenience from it. He has been exami- 
ned by a large number of travelers who have passed through this 
city, and witnessed the unparalleled success of our medicines in 
this interesting case. 

We deem it worthy, also, of remark, that this was the first case 
in which a jacket, made of buckskin, (glazed cloth is better,) well 
covered with the Liniment, was worn constantly day and night. 
The benefits derived from it are evident ; in fact, ive have never 
known a single failure of complete success where that mode of 
application has been resorted to. 



296 TESTIMONIAL. 

Dyspepsia, Pain, and Cough. — Dear Sir : For your encou- 
ragement, and for the information of the afflicted, I would inform 
you of the benefits I have received by the use of your Liniment. 

Having been afflicted with dyspepsia, loss of appetite, a severe 
cough, and pain in the breast, for a number of months ; and, un- 
able to obtain any relief, I was induced to try your Liniment. I 
have used about one bottle, and the effect has been to restore my 
appetite, my cough has ceased, the pain in my breast removed, 

and I find myself restored to perfect health. 

J. C. 



Cholera. — The most remarkable effect produced by the Lini- 
ment has occurred near Etna, in Licking county, where the cholera 
was raging, and had been unusually fatal in that village and its vi- 
cinity, when a lad of fourteen years of age was violently attacked 
with the premonitory symptoms of that scourge of nations. I applied 
your Stimulating Liniment over the whole body with much fric- 
tion. The effect was truly astonishing ; in a short time, every 
dangerous symptom was removed, and the next day the boy was 
apparently well. This relief was particularly fortunate, as no 
medical assistance could be obtained. 

J. C. 



Burns and Scalds. — I have used your vegetable Cerate in my 
family in cases wherein two of my children suffered severely ; 
the one burned with fire on the hand, and the other was scalded 
with boiling water upon the hand. Immediate application of your 
Cerate was made in both cases, which prevented blistering, and 
soon effected complete cures. My wife has applied the Cerate to 
her nipples, when sore, which effected a cure in the course of 
one night. 

S. M. 



Bruise.—- I had a finger smashed between two sticks of timber 
that were twelve inches square ; when the timber was removed, my 
finger was completely flattened. It was immediately pressed into 
its proper shape, and bound up with an application of Jewett's 
Vegetable Cerate. In less than fifteen minutes after it was bound 



DROPSY, DYSPEPSIA, ETC. 297 

up, all pain ceased ; and, in three days, my hand was sound and 

well, with the exception of the end of my finger and under the 

nail, which was tender. 

S. S. 



Remitting Bilious Fever, Delirium, etc. — A lady, under my 
care, laboring under remitting bilious fever for more than a week, 
accompanied with a profuse diarrhea, and delirious, was treated by 
an application of Jewett's Liniment. In twelve hours, reason was 
restored ; and the next day she was convalescent, and able to at- 
tend to the business of the family. 

T. H. 



Extract of a letter from Dr. S. JR., of Hardiman county, Ten- 
nessee, July 5, 1835. 

Canker Sores, Risings on the Breasts of Females, etc. 

— ;*'* Col. Jewett : I have tried the efficacy of your Stimulating Lini- 
ment, and am truly gratified with the success I have had in its ap- 
plication for pains of all kinds, canker sores, risings on the breasts 
of females, cramp cholic, and external bruises. In fact, I am so 
convinced of its superiority over any other medicine, that I feel 
the want of it very much in my practice." 



Extract of a letter from Dr. A. Mc Gowan. 

Putrid and Typhus Fever. — " Your Liniments I have now 
tested in two cases of putrid and typhus fever of very alarming 
type. One of the patients is now going about ; the other, I feel 
satisfied, will be equally well in a short time. These diseases 
have proved fatal, in many cases, under the usual practice of de- 
pletion and minerals in this vicinity. I have likewise tried the 
Liniment in various cases of sick head-ache with decided effect." 



Extract from a letter of Dr. J. W., of Harrison township, 
Licking county, Ohio. 

Dropsy, Dyspepsia, etc.-—" I have been troubled, for ten years, 
38 



298 TESTIMONIAL. 

with a dropsical affection ; warm weather increased it, with a 
suppression of urine. I made a full and thorough application of 
your Stimulating Liniment to my bowels, and, strange to tell, I 
was, in a short time, relieved. I consider myself now cured of 
the complaint. In my practice, I found the most decidedly favor- 
able effect in cases of dyspepsia, and pains generally, by the use 
of your Liniment." 



Dyspepsia. — Col. Jewett: Sir, the bottle of Liniment which 
you presented me has been productive of much good, and relieved 
an amount of suffering far beyond my most sanguine expectations, 
from so small a quantity. I will relate a few of the surprising 
effects from the use of very small portions of it : 

W. S. had been afflicted with a severe pain in the stomach for 
several weeks, and which had rendered him unable to labor. He 
applied a small quantity of the Liniment to his stomach, and, in a 
short time, the pain ceased. I saw him some time after, and 
learned that his health was better than it had been for a long time. 
Two severe cases of dyspepsia have been relieved and cured by it 
in a short time. 

J. S. 



Head-ache and Foijl Stomach. — About two weeks ago, I was 
afflicted with the sick head-ache and foul stomach. I applied to 
my head and stomach Jewett's Head-ache Liniment; and, in 
about four minutes, my head ceased to ache, and, without any 
other remedy, my stomach is restored to a healthy state, with a 
good appetite for any kind of food. 

E. H. 



Darting Pains in the Ear and Head.— -I was attacked, six 
weeks since, with a peculiar and very severe darting pain from the 
ear through the forehead, caused by exposure to the cold, together 
with violent head-ache, which was removed, in the course of ten 
minutes, by the application of Jewett's Liniment. 

J. B. 

IC7 5 We shall omit the further publication of testimonials of 



INFLAMMATORY RHEUMATISM, ETC. 299 

the cure of sick head-ache, except in cases where it forms a part 
of the evils suffered by patients laboring under other and more 
serious complaints ; for, although sick head-ache is painful, and, 
in many cases, excruciating, we now consider it under the com- 
plete control of medicine. We have never known a failure when 
our Head-ache Liniment, together with its accompanying remedies , 
has been faithfully and perseveringly applied. 



Affection of the Liver and Spleen.— Last winter, I was 
attacked with a pain in my left side, which moved round into my 
back, and troubled me very much during the spring and summer. 
The pain, at length, got into both sides, and before and during a 
storm, or damp weather, it was severe beyond description. A 
slight swelling of the side occurred where the pain was principally 
seated, so that, by pressing the finger upon the place, there ap- 
peared a crackling similar to pressing a broken egg-shell (I do not 
know how to describe it better) under the fingers. I made a 
thorough application of your Stimulating Liniment to my side 
and back, which afforded me immediate relief; and, in a short 
time, by continuing the use of the Liniment, I was completely 
cured, and remained so ever since. 

C. G. H. 



Nervous Affections, Pains in the Back, etc — In 1824, I 
was attacked with yellow fever, on the Island of Cuba, which ar- 
rived at a crisis in five days ; but I did not recover my health. 
Since that period, I have suffered, continually, much pain in my 
sides, back, and shoulder-blades. The pains, at times, were vio- 
lent, accompanied with general nervous irritation. I continued in 
that condition until January, 1835, when I applied Jewett's Stimu- 
lating Liniment, which gave me some relief the first day. I con- 
tinued the application for ten days, when all pain ceased, and my 
general health was restored. 

P. A. J. 



Inflammatory Rheumatism. — Three and a half years ago, I 
was severely attacked with the inflammatory rheumatism, with 



300 TESTIMONIAL. 

which I was confined nearly four months ; and, after my recovery, 
I was occasionally troubled with a pain in my side, and the rheu- 
matism has returned upon me every winter since my first attack. 
About three months ago, I commenced applying Jewett's Lini- 
ment, which relieved me from pain. I have used four bottles of 
the Liniment, and, at this time, I am entirely relieved of the com- 
plaint. For some time, I have had a glandular swelling on one 
of my arms, on which I applied the Liniment five times, which 
has nearly removed the swelling. 

T. L. 



Chills and Fever. — Some days ago, one of my children was 
severely attacked with chills and fever : I applied Jewett's Lini- 
ment over the whole surface of the body, which relieved the pain 
and averted the fever, and no return of chill or fever has since oc- 
curred. The next day, the child was as playful as usual. 

G. B. S. 



Cough. — I have been afflicted, for twenty years, with a very 
severe cough, and, for a long time, with many other bodily infir- 
mities of the most distressing kind. I have repeatedly sought aid 
from various sources, but received only partial relief, until I made 
use of your remedies, which was on the 26th of January, 1835. 
The first bottle relieved me from pains which I had suffered for 
six years, and they have not since returned. The second day I 
used it, caused me to throw off of my stomach much offensive, 
corrupted matter, and a great weakness in my back and breast en- 
sued. I applied a plaster of the Liniment to those parts, which 
soon removed the weakness, and I have not suffered any from it 
since. I have suffered much from dyspepsia for three years past ; 
the most of the food I ate was either thrown up, or remained on 
my stomach to distress me ; but now I have a good appetite for 
any kind of food, and eat all kinds freely without any injurious 
consequences. I have, generally, been obliged to set up for hours 
every night, in bed, to cough ; but now I sleep comfortably all 
night. I am now over sixty years of age— enjoy myself as well 
as I could wish — and find it my duty to continue the means that 



RHEUMATISM, ETC. 301 

a gracious Providence has placed in my hands for relief from pain 
and suffering. 

M. K. 



Dyspepsia and Head-ache.— I have been afflicted, for more 
than three years, with a severe pain in my head, said to be the 
nervous head-ache, which confined me much of the time in bed. 
I applied Jewett's Liniment to my head, which removed the pain 
in fifteen or twenty minutes, and I have not felt it since. I also 
suffered much from dyspepsia, and other distressing complaints ; 
but the use of the Liniments - has also removed these difficulties. 
It is now about six months since I first made use of the Liniment, 
and I enjoy better health than I have for many years. I have a 
good appetite, my food agrees with me, and I am gaining in health 
and strength daily. 

L. A. H. 



Rheumatism. — It is now about four years since I had an Attack 
of rheumatic pains ; my limbs and nerves were much affected ; I 
was sometimes much worse than at others ; but, during the whole 
period, I was never free from pain. During the second year of 
my affliction, I was swelled hi my ankles, knees, hips, and on my 
head, and my neck was stiff, so that, often, I could not turn to 
look at any object without turning my body also. The sinews of 
my limbs were swollen, and felt corded and tight like drum cords ; 
my nerves were affected, and I experienced death-like feelings, 
and I endured sleepless nights. Two weeks ago, I commenced 
the application of Jewett's remedies, for fever and ague, according 
to directions, and I have come to my natural feeling ; I breathe 
freely ; the pain in my side is gone ; I am entirely relieved ; have 
the natural and easy use of my limbs ; and, during the whole four 
years, I did not, at any moment, experience any thing like the 
ease I now enjoy. In addition to rubbing the whole surface of 
the body with the Liniment, a plaster of the same was applied to 
my side, which soon produced a running sore ; and, as the dis- 
charges from it took place, my side was entirely relieved from 
pain. 

J. G. 



302 TESTIMONIAL. 

Sprain. — On the 8th of January, 1835, I strained my knee- 
joint — raising the knee-pan from its place— and it was believed 
that the knee-joint was cracked. Extreme pain and great swelling 
ensued. I applied Jewett's Stimulating Liniment, and heated it in 
with a warm iron, swaithing"it with flannel, and, in twelve hours, 
the pain entirely ceased. In ten days, a perfect cure was effected 
without the application of any other medicine. 

E. B. 



Fever and Diarrhea.- — -I was called on, last winter, to attend 
a child which had a high fever and diarrhea. I applied Jewett's 
Liniment over the whole body. In two hours, the child was 
wholly relieved from the fever, and had not another irregular mo- 
tion of the bowels ; no other medicine was made use of. 

J. R. 



Fever and Ague, and Cholera Morbus.— I was attacked se- 
verely with chills and fever, to which I had, for a long time, been 
subject. I made use of the Liniment for fever, and, in three days,, 
was perfectly cured of the complaint ; and it has not returned upon 
me since, after a lapse of one year. I also used your Liniment 
for cholera morbus, which, in a very short time, cured me of that 
complaint ; the attack was a severe one, and no other medicine 
was made use of. 

E. B. 



Extract of a letter from a Physician of high standing. 

High Fever and Extreme Debility promptly cured.— "I 
have found, so far as I have tried your medicine, that it proves 
highly satisfactory. In one case, I was called to a boy who was 
brought home with a very high fever: preparations had been 
made to give it a course of the Thompsonian system ; but I im- 
mediately applied your Fever Liniment over the whole body, and, 
before the water got warm, the boy was in a full perspiration, and 
the fever left him immediately. In another case, I was called to 
a lady, in the country, who had been confined about eight weeks. 
I found her almost without pulse— extremities cold— skin dry— 



FEVER AND AGUE, ETC. 303 

extreme pain in the head and back — and much febrile affection in- 
dicated. I applied your Fever Liniment with much friction, which 
gave her immediate relief. Several other cases have been relieved 
in like manner," 



Salt Rheum. — My wife has been afflicted with salt rheum for 
thirty years : all means resorted to, during that period, proved in- 
effectual until, about nine months ago, she applied your Vegetable 
Cerate, which relieved her in two days, and she soon became per- 
fectly cured of the complaint. She has not been troubled with it 
since, with the exception of a single instance : about six months 
after the cure, she had a slight breaking out on the hand, which 
was removed with one application of the Cerate. 

E. B. C. 



Extract of a letter from Dr. D. J. 

Piles and Palpitation of the Heart. — " Thirteen years 
ago, M. L., a lady of Montgomery county, Ohio, was attacked 
with the piles, which have continued to afflict her ever since. She 
was also troubled with pain in her back, bowels, sides, and shoul- 
ders ; and during the whole time, as she averred, had been afflict- 
ed with palpitation of the heart. 

"Four months since, I applied your Stimulating Liniment, on 
plasters, to her back and bowels, rubbing the same on her breast 
and shoulders. I also gave her the Pile Salve, two applications 
of which, with five applications of the Stimulating Liniment, to- 
gether with the plasters worn as above stated, have completely 
cured her of all disease, and she remains well at the present time. 
The same lady informs me that her daughter was violently at- 
tacked with pleurisy, and that she rubbed her side, and over the 
body, with the Stimulating Liniment, and threw her into a perspi- 
ration, and relief was obtained immediately." 



Fever and Ague.— -Two months ago, I was taken with the 
fever and ague. I had chills and fever every other day. Just. 



304 TESTIMONIAL. 

before I expected the chill, on the seventh day, I applied Jewett's 
Fever Liniment to the bottoms of my feet, and put a hot brick to 
them, which caused a profuse perspiration, and the chill and fever 
did not return on me. I have had no more ague since. This 
was the only medicine I used, and I used it but once. 

J. B. 

%CT D We would here remark, that though the foregoing case is 
truly remarkable, (and we have known many such produced by 
our remedies,) we have not been in the habit of depending for a 
cure, on so slight an application, but at once apply the Liniment 
over the whole surface of the body, which we have never known 
to fail of accomplishing the desired object — a 'perfect cure. 



Measles. — Two months ago, my wife was severely attacked 
with measles, with severe pain in the bones, until I made an ap- 
plication of Jewett's Stimulating Liniment. The first application 
afforded relief. On the second application the measles broke out 
over the whole body, and in three days after, she was entirely re- 
lieved, during which time she made frequent use of the Liniment 
on her body, and wore plasters on the bottoms of her feet. Du- 
ring this whole application, she had no cough, nor sore eyes; and 
since her recovery, she has been in better health than she has ex- 
perienced for a year past. 

J. C. S. 



Extract of a letter from an aged and experienced physician. 

Intermittent Fever.— "In the last eight weeks I have been 
relieved from three attacks of intermittent fever. The first at- 
tack was violent. The second was brought on by exposure in 
wet weather. The third, several weeks after the second, was 
also occasioned by a violent cold. 

"Each attack was accompanied by a violent fever, pains in the 
bones, wandering pains and chills through the whole system, and 
a very afflictive pain fixed in the back, and across the loins, at- 
tended with lassitude, weariness, restlessness, and anxiety. These 
attacks were preceded with several days premonitory indisposition. 



MEASLES AND SCARLET FEVER. 305 

They were all removed, in each instance, by one application of 
your Liniment, applied over the whole surface of the body, and 
keeping up a profuse perspiration thereby produced, by warm 
bricks to the feet, and covered warm in bed. To secure against 
relapse, I applied the Liniment to my breast, on several succeed- 
ing days. The effects of the Liniment in producing a sudden 
and copious perspiration, the composure and quietude it brings 
over the nerves, and the sudden restoration of appetite which fol- 
lows, invariably, its application, are truly surprising. In every 
instance alluded to, I felt myself perfectly relieved of all disease, 
on the ensuing day, which, after all our experience and knowledge 
of facts daily occurring, and considering my advanced period of 
life, and the severity of the paroxysm, could not fail to excite the 
admiration and surprise of myself and family. We used the Lini- 
ment freely. 

"T. H." 



Measles and Scarlet Fever.— Six months ago, my child, 
then three years old, was attacked with measles and scarlet fever 
at the same time; throat much swelled, with choaking and rattling 
in it; burning fever; and, to appearance, much excited with pain. 
The cords of his neck and cheeks were much swollen, and were 
very hard. His mouth and throat were raw. I gave him a spoon- 
full of sweet oil, and then applied Jewett's Fever Liniment to his 
neck, and all over his body at night. The child was thrown into 
a perspiration, rested well through the night, and in the morning 
all the dangerous symptoms were removed. The child had a good 
appetite, and in a few days was perfectly cured, without the use 
of any other medicine. 

A. S. 



Extract of a letter from a physician, on cutaneous absorption. 

Facts are better than arguments. — "I have known the 
Liniment to produce profuse perspiration in a few minutes, re- 
lieve violent pain, and throw off a fever in a few hours. In bil- 
ious fever I have used the Liniment much to the comfort of the 
patient, in removing sick stomach, head-ache, back-ache, etc., often 
39 



306 TESTIMONIAL. 

in ten or fifteen minutes. It is also most excellent in rheuma- 
tism, and is a sure cure for nervous head-ache, if persevered in. 

"I could produce certificates for the cure of the piles, by the 
use of the Pile Salve, in one case of thirteen years, and in anoth- 
er of twenty years standing. 

"The Cerate I know from experience, to be excellent for the 
cure of burns, scalds, and sores of every description; also sprains, 
bruises, etc. 

" The Head-ache Liniment seldom fails to relieve in five or ten 
minutes, and if persevered in, never fails to perform a perfect cure. 

" I could at this time publish more than one hundred testimo- 
nials, proving the above facts. For cholic pains and bowel com- 
plaints, in infants, the effect of the Cholera Morbus Liniment is 
truly astonishing, frequently producing instantaneous relief ! And 
still will it be longer contended, against all of the above facts, that 
there is no cutaneous absorption ? 

" T. N." 



Chills and Fever.— I had a severe attack of chills and fever, 
attended with pain in the head, breast, and loins, loss of appetite, 
etc. I had been in this way for some days, and found myself 
growing worse continually. I made use of Jewett's Fever Lini- 
ment, at evening, agreeably to directions given in such cases ; it 
produced plentiful perspiration. Next morning I found the fever 
was gone. I discharged bile freely, by the bowels, and have not 
had any symptoms of the complaint since. 

I have not the smallest doubt that, in case I had not applied the 
Liniment, I should have had a long and lingering spell of sick- 
ness, as that has formerly been the case, in several preceding 
seasons in which, notwithstanding the faithful use of all other 
means, I have had a similar complaint continuing with me for 
months ; but which, in this case, I was relieved of in one night, 
without the aid of any other medicine. 

J. R. 



White Swelling and Piles. — Thy Liniments have perform- 
ed wonderfully. A white swelling on a boy's knee, which had 
been for three years standing, and pronounced beyond the reach 



PARALYSIS AFFECTION OF THE SIDE, ETC. 307 

of medicine by a physician, has been cured. One case of long 
standing- of piles has been cared with the Pile Salve. There are 
several cases within my knowledge, which have been cured with 
the Stimulating Liniment, the particulars of which I will hereafter 
furnish thee. 

B. W. 



Extract of a letter from J. W. Esq. of New-York, dated Sep- 
tember 16, 1835. 

Cholera. — "A neighbor of mine was recently taken with the 
cholera. All the symptoms indicated a violent, sudden, and fatal 
termination of that disease. Your Liniment was fully and faith- 
fully applied, and in a few minutes he said he felt as if he were in 
a new world; reaction took place, and he soon recovered. The 
man declared it as his opinion, that he could not have lived fifteen 
minutes, had it not been for the Liniment. Our physician told 
me your preparations were the cheapest medicine he ever met 
with. He says your Pile Salve never fails, when properly ap- 
plied." 



From the Rev. J. B., M. B., October 30, 1835. 

Recommendatory letter. — " Your medical preparations, so 
far as I have had an opportunity of trying them, have answered all 
the expectations raised by your Advertiser, and were it necessary 
I could furnish you some additional testimony of their adaptation 
to the cure of disease. In every instance where I have recom- 
mended their application, positive benefit has been derived, and the 
most entire satisfaction expressed by the patients using them. I 
have not known them used in a single case, where they have not 
been sovereign and all-sufficient, in affecting what they were de- 
signed to accomplish." 



From a letter of Br. M. G. 

Paralysis — Affection of the side.—" My own health, for 
some time, has been in a feeble state, and from some unknown 



308 TESTIMONIAL. 

cause, I suddenly became much worse. A cessation of a proper 
circulation appeared to take place on one side, leaving me in a 
most distressed situation, attended with much pain. I made a 
liberal application of your Liniment, and the effect far surpassed 
my expectations. I was immediately free from pain, and am 
rapidly on the recovery of health ; my appetite, from being very 
poor, is fast returning to its proper state ; and I have a desire that 
the community generally, may become acquainted with the saluta- 
ry effect of these invaluable remedies, in relieving the afflicted." 



From Dr. J. S. 

Fever and Sick Head-ache. — " From the trials made of your 
medicines, they are greatly approved of: in one case of fever, 
particularly, a patient given over, and thought by all to be past 
recovery, by a thorough application of your Liniment for fever, 
has been restored, and is now able to be up and about. The 
patient is the wife of a respectable gentlemen who was violently 
opposed to your medicines, but now convinced of their power to 
heal. When tli9 box came to hand, he himself was laboring un- 
der a violent sick head-ache : he applied the Liniment to his head, 
and, in just four minutes by the clock, he was perfectly at ease. 
He continued its use for a short time, and is entirely cured of the 
complaint to which he had been subject." 



Extract of a letter from Dr. John Steele, of Frankfort, Missouri, 
October 16, 1835. 

Remarkable case and cure of a Child. — " I have used two 
bottles of your Liniment upon my infant child, ivho has never 
seen a well day in his life. He is now eleven months old, and 
was born with disease. When he was three Aveeks old, he weigh- 
ed three pounds when dressed: he now weighs seven pounds. 
From the time he was born until the present, he has been kept 
alive by botanic medicines, and chiefly by injections. Had I kept 
a regular account of all the applications and medicine given, it 
would astonish thousands ; it is now better, and has a prospect of 



REMARKABLE CASE. 309 

recovery. Should he get well, I shall ascribe the praise, under 
God, to your Liniment. When he was about a month old, he 
broke out on his hips, thighs, and legs, like a burn or scald, and 
would blister as bad as if flies had been applied. It would con- 
tinue in this way for three or four weeks at a time, and then dry 
up for a few days, and then come out again in the same way, only 
spreading more each time, successively, until it got nearly all over 
him. Jit one time, he did not open his eyes for eleven days, and 
often, in that time, the blood would run down from his eyes, on 
his cheeks, to his neck. I have been thus particular, in order, 
should he live, you may see what has been done by your remedies, 
and that the world may be benefitted thereby. What I have said, 
is but a faint representation of his sufferings, but I have now strong 
hopes of his recovery from all disease." 



Extract from the same, dated February 23, 1836. 

" About the last of September, I received your Liniment, the 
child having grown much worse : in August, it was blind eleven 
days, and I then expected both eyes would run out. When the 
Liniment came to hand, I applied it to all parts of the body that 
were sound, and the Cerate to the sores. At first, relief was very 
perceptible, and then no further improvement appeared for per- 
haps six weeks ; and had you not written to me to persevere, I 
should have given it up as irretrievably lost. After the time men- 
tioned, we began to discover that the plaster applied to the stomach 
had an evidently good effect. The stomach was relieved from 
the tough phlegm which had been the cause of much of its suffer- 
ing. It gradually mended, the eruptions became less, and soon 
after entirely disappeared." 



Extract from the same, March 15, 1836. 

" I am happy in informing you that your remedies have proved 
a blessing to me in restoring my afflicted infant child to perfect 
soundness ; it is now free from all disease, and is full of life and 
activity. It has been entirely ivell for tivo months, and is grow- 



310 TESTIMONIAL. 

ing as fast as any child. I could give you many cases where 
your medicines have been applied to the saving of life ; but it ap- 
pears useless. Any one still disposed to doubt, in this region, 
would not believe though one should rise from the dead and de- 
clare it." 

IC The experience in practice and application of our medicine 
presented in the above case, shows, in a most striking manner, 
how important it is to persevere until relief be obtained. The 
child to whom we refer, and whose case is represented in the let- 
ter of Dr. Steele, is now nearly four years old ; enjoys good health 
at this time ; and, in fact, far better than that of any member of 
the family, with fair prospects of its continuance. 



Extract of a letter from Dr. T. N., M. D. 

" Your most excellent Liniments have aided and accelerated 
cures in many cases. The more I use your remedies, the more 
clearly is the doctrine of cutaneous absorption demonstrated to my 
mind. In fever cases, your remedies are, indeed, invaluable, in- 
variably removing all pain when properly and thoroughly applied, 
and producing a full and free perspiration. I can, with the utmost 
confidence, recommend them to the whole family of man." 



Extract of a letter from Dr. J. V. D. G. 

Bilious Fever. — " I have seen much good consequent to the 
use of your medicine, but will trouble you with the relation of two 
remarkable cases. Maj. D. P. C. was taken very suddenly with 
vomiting, pain in the head, back, and extremities, with high fever, 
which progressed rapidly, and, in the course of ten hours, he be- 
came entirely delirious — a wild look of the eyes — face very much 
flushed — and required three persons to keep him in bed. Every 
person had despaired of him, and was conscious he would die. 
He had been puked freely, and every other known means made 
use of, to no effect. I, however, resolved to make a bold effort 
to save him, and proposed trying your Liniment, which was agreed 



WEAKNESS AND TREMOR, ETC. 311 

to. I commenced by shaving the head, and then rubbed it on 
well ; applied it all over the stomach and bowels ; applied warm 
rocks to his feet, back, etc. In the course of three hours, he came 
to his proper senses, i In three days he was walking about in his 
room, and in a few more was off visiting his friends. 

The other case, in which your life-saver, (I call it) has had 
equal effects as in the above, was that of a lady, who had been sa- 
livated so much, that the jaw had sloughed partly off. Parts of 
her flesh had mortified, where repeated blisters had been applied. 
I thought it a bad chance to save her, as part of the jaw-bone was 
bare. I, however, commenced the application of the Liniment, 
and, to my utter astonishment, in a week the parts commenced 
healing, and in three weeks she was entirely well. The Liniment 
checked the mortification as soon as applied, and has been the 
means of saving her life." 

Remark.— It was a long time after we were aware of the fact, 
that our Liniments would instantly arrest fevers of every type, 
that we ventured to say any thing on the subject, being satisfied it 
would require more faith to believe the astonishing fact, than any 
man's assertion would create. The fact is now well established 
by hundreds of cases, which have been cured in less time, and 
with less expense, and much more certainty, than the world ever 
witnessed, by any practice heretofore known; and had the talent- 
ed writer of the foregoing letter understood, what by practice he 
will soon learn, when he applied the Liniment to Major C, the 
major would probably have been well on the following day. In 
all such extreme cases, we apply the Liniment over the whole 
surface~of the body, once in two or three hours, and warm up the 
system as rapidly as possible, thereby producing a free and copi- 
ous perspiration, which is kept up with warm bricks to the feet 
and sides, if necessary. We also give our Diaphoretic Drops 
freely. 



Extract from a letter of S. M., Indiana. 

Weakness and Tremor. — " I have tried thy Liniments in sev- 
eral cases with very good success. I will give thee one case. A 
child of twelve years old was taken with a tremor, ivcakncss, and 



312 TESTIMONIAL. 

lameness in her knees and legs ; legs much swelled and appetite 
gone. I bathed her feet and legs in warm water, wiped dry, and 
applied the Liniment from the knees down ; put stockings on, and 
hot bricks to her feet. First night some improvement ; next night 
repeated with good effect ; third night rubbed the breast, spine, 
sides, legs and feet as before, and drank warm teas as she got up 
in the morning. Apparently well, and still remains so, with a 
good appetite." 

Note. — If the patient in the above case had received a tho- 
rough application of the Liniment all over the body in the first 
instance, with hot bricks to the feet, and the exhibition, freely, of 
our Diaphoretic Drops, it would have saved her two days sickness, 
and much pain and trouble. 

Extract from a letter of Dr. J. C. 

Fever, Sore Eyes, etc. — " I have fully tested the virtues of 
your medicine to my entire satisfaction. Your Cerate is invalua- 
ble, and exceeds every other article of the kind of which I have 
any knowledge ; but I know not which of your preparations is en- 
titled to a preference, when compared to others of your make. I 
will give you a case or two, among many proofs of their efficacy. 

" My wife was attacked severely with fever. I applied your Li- 
niment, and in less than fifteen minutes she was relieved from all 
pain, and in a free perspiration. She was perfectly well in a few 
days. 

" A young lady scalded her foot badly. Blisters had arisen all 
over the top of the same. I applied the Cerate, and in five mi- 
nutes the pain was entirely gone. In a few days the scald was 
entirely healed and cured. 

" Some weeks since I suffered severely with sore eyes, occasion- 
ed by loss of sleep and exposure to cold. I applied eye-waters of 
various kinds, and all means within my knowledge, without gain- 
ing any relief. I had many patients to attend to, day and night. I 
resorted to a trial of your Cerate. In a few minutes from the time 
of application of it, all burning pain left my eyes. I went to sleep 
a few hours, and when I awoke, found great relief. I continued to 
apply it a few days, and completed a perfect cure, has continued 
without a return of the disease. 



PAIN IN THE SIDE AND AGUE CAKE, ETC. 313 

" I have since applied it in several cases of sore-eyes, with per- 
fect success in all." 



Extract of a letter from Dr. D. I. 

Cough of thirteen years standing cured. — " Mrs. G., on 
hearing the reports of the virtues of your preparations, called on 
me for some of the Cough Liniment. She had a severe cough of 
thirteen years standing, which had defied all skill and medicine 
within her power to obtain. I supplied her with one bottle. She 
soon applied for another ; and before the last bottle was entirely 
used, she informed me that her cough was entirely cured, and her 
health completely restored." 



Dislocated Joint. — One of my sons fell and put his shoul- 
der-joint out of place, and cracked the collar-bone. I set the arm 
into its proper place, and applied Jewett's Liniment, which reliev- 
ed him at once from pain. I continued the application for a week. 
His arm was swung up three days. In ten days his shoulder was 
perfectly well. 

J. R. 



Weakness in the Limbs, etc. — My son has been afflicted 
for five years with weakness in his limbs, and severe pain in his 
side, until sometime last spring, when he was entirely confined to 
his bed. He was troubled with the bowel-complaint, and one of 
his thighs and arms had perished away very much. Two months 
ago he commenced using your Liniment, which cured him of the 
bowel-complaint directly, and relieved him of his pain. His joints 
and limbs, (which were drawn out,) are coming into place, and his 
thigh and arm gaining as to size. 

Pain in the side and Ague Cake. — A daughter of mine was 
afflicted with a pain in her side, and a cake which seemed to be 
formed under her ribs, attended with severe cough. The applica- 
tion of your Liniment relieved her of all those complaints in a very 
short time. A nail was run into the foot of a child, which atiect- 
40 



314 TESTIMONIAL. 

ed it all over the whole system. The application of your Lini- 
ment wholly relieved the child from pain, and the foot got well 
immediately. 

C. D. 



From Dr. J. C, January 1836. 

Nervous Affection.- — " There has been a disease prevailing 
in this region, for some time past, which has been very violent 
from its first appearance. It is attended with excruciating pain in 
the ear, jaw, temple, neck, shoulder and side, and sometimes im- 
mediately followed by delirium and general debility. I have at- 
tended a number of cases, and have been so fortunate as not to 
lose a patient. One of my children was attacked with the disease 
two days ago. I applied your Cholera Preparation over the whole 
body ; at the same time gave an emetic and an injection ; in one 
hour she was entirely relieved, and fell into a sound sleep, at 
which time I was obliged to leave her, and did not return for 
twelve hours, when I found her in a violent fever. I immediately 
applied the Liniment thoroughly, which caused a free perspira- 
tion in a few minutes, which was kept up for several hours, and 
she is now entirely well," 



From Rev. A. B. 

Injury of the Cartilage of the Heel.— "In July, 1835, 
while walking the street, I stepped a little crooked on the pave- 
ment, when I felt something give way, like the tearing of the tis- 
sue between the muscles of the left heel. For ten days after, I 
continued to walk on it as usual, feeling it tear a little more now 
and then ; but at the end of ten days my leg became very painful, 
and my whole system was so affected, that to the ends of my fin- 
gers and toes I was in acute pain, and my jaws began to stiffen at 
the joints. In this situation I sought relief from the highest sour- 
ces of skill, and applied various remedies as directed, but gained 
nothing more than partial relief. I was compelled to use crutches, 
and traveled in a light wagon. On the 20th of September I went 
to Columbus, Ohio, where a friend gave me an ounce of Jewett's 
Stimulating Liniment, which I applied according to directions, and 



SCARLET OR TYPHUS FEVER, ETC. 315 

in one week I could go without crutches, and in two weeks could 
walk without limping. The heel continued to strengthen from 
the use of it until the 10th of January following, when my supply 
of the Liniment was expended ; at which time, and for several 
weeks previous, I felt free from all inconvenience from the wound." 



From Dr. T. N. 

Pleurisy, Head-Ache, Scalds and Small Pox. — " The effects 
of your Liniments are astonishing to all who try them. I have 
been completely successful with them in Pleurisy, Measles, Head- 
ache , Scalds, arid applied them in one case of Small Pox, which 
they cured without any other medicine, in a very short time." 



From Dr. W. H. F. 

Measles and Freezing.—" I will mention a few cases in which 
your remedies have been eminently successful : 

" Measles. — A boy afflicted with measles, oppression of the 
lungs, wheezing, or difficult respiration, whose obstinacy preclud- 
ed the possibility of administering medicine internally, was rubbed 
freely with Stimulating Liniment, over the limbs, breast and sides, 
upon which the Measles came to the surface. The result was, 
the boy got well in a very short time, without having that danger- 
ous cough which usually follows that disease. 

" Freezing.— -By exposure by riding in a very cold day, I had 
both feet frozen, so that upon a moderate application of the hand, 
in the act of rubbing to produce a circulation, a detachment of skin 
came off, as though hot embers had been applied to the part. 

" I immediately applied the Cerate, and so sudden and effectual 
was the cure, that after the following morning, no inconvenience 
was experienced, except a sense of tenderness to the touch." 



Scarlet or Typhus Fever. — " During the winter past, there 
has been a most obstinate fever prevailing in this region, called by 
some physicians, Nervous Typhus, and by others, Scarlet Fever. 



316 TESTIMONIAL. 

Those who survived, (for but few recovered at all,) have lingered 
from twelve to twenty weeks. One man continued, after getting 
about sixteen weeks, and then died. In fact, very few recovered 
entirely. 

Two young men, who had the same complaint as those who 
died, and were equally afflicted, were treated with Jewett's Fever 
Liniment, and were immediately relieved ; and within four days 
were out of danger, and since regained their health as sound as; 
ever." 

C. It 



From Dr. D. I. 

Sciatica. — " About four weeks ago I was attacked with a se- 
vere pain in my left thigh, seated a little below the hip joint, and 
extending somewhat lower, to the knee. This was on Wednes- 
day. On Thursday the pain and sickness increased. In the even- 
ing, before going to bed, I applied Stimulating Liniment. Friday 
it was still worse, and in the evening the Liniment was applied as 
at first. On Saturday it was worse than ever. I have been thus 
particular, to show how necessary it is, not only to persevere, but 
to begin in earnest, and make thorough and repeated applications 
at first, in such cases. On Saturday, I was determined to give the 
Liniment a fair and thorough trial. I used it three times during 
the day, with much friction, by a hot stove, and once again before 
going to bed. At the last time I had my back well rubbed. On 
Sunday the Liniment was used three times, from the hip to the 
knee. On Monday it was entirely well, and remains so to this 
day." 



From J. D., M. D. 

Ring Bone on the Ankle. — " Your Liniment is in very high 
repute in my practice. In one case it has performed a cure, pro- 
nounced by medical gentlemen of skill and science, of all orders, 
to be beyond the reach of medicine. The patient had walked with 
crutches three years, being afflicted with what the most learned 
among physicians called a ring-bone upon his ankle. He applied 



COLD PLAGUE, ETC. 317 

the Stimulating Liniment six weeks, and had no more use for his 
crutches. He was perfectly cured, and remains so to this day. 
Consumptions, liver omplaints, and pains, in all instances, 
have been relieved by your remedies. 



An Interesting Case. — " I was called to prescribe for the 
daughter of a Mr. D., of Franklin county, Ohio. She was ten 
years old. When I first saw her, her joints were much swollen ; 
flattened ribs ; great incurvation of the spine, from the first supe- 
rior lumbar vertebra to the inferior cervical vertebra of the neck ; 
general emaciation ; diseased state of the lymphatics ; running in 
the immediate vicinity of the alimentary canal ; consequently a 
derangement of the bowels ; lower extremities much swollen ; 
pain over the region of the lungs, on the right side ; protuberance 
of the belly, attended with hardness and acute pain to the touch ; 
all of which rendered her entirely unable to rise from the bed. She 
was at the same time affected with a severe cough, attended by 
flashes of fever. In this distressed situation, I commenced the 
application of Jewett's Liniment over the whole surface of the 
body, at the same time applying plasters of the same over the more 
immediate regions of the pain. I also gave her internally Jewett's 
Vegetable Syrup, accompanied with Diaphoretic Drops. On the 
first night after the application, the patient was relieved from vio- 
lent pain ; shortly after, her bowels became regulated ; and by 
continuing this course about six weeks, the patient has been cured 
of all the above complaints, and is now, to all appearance, in per- 
fect health. I consider this case one of the most extraordinary I 
have ever met with in my practice. When I first saw her, I had 
but little expectations of affording her any permanent relief. 

Wm. J. R., M. D. 



From Dr. B. B., M. D. 

Cold Plague. — "The first case in which I applied your Lini- 
ment was in a severe attack of cold plague. The patient had dry 
skin, much fever, strictures in the breast, pain in the head, bowels, 
and limbs. He soon became entirely deranged. I applied the 



318 TESTIMONIAL. 

Liniment to the whole surface of his body ; gave him freely of 
the Diaphoretic Drops ; placed hot bricks to his feet and sides, 
which caused a profuse perspiration. He came to his right mind, 
the fever was reduced, and the next day he was able to set up. 
I made another application of the Liniment, which entirely cured 
him, and on the third day he was enabled to attend to his ordi- 
nary business." 

Tumors and Erysipelas. — "A Mr. C. of Fayette county, had 
been troubled for a long time, with a breaking out on his legs. 
Very large lumbs appeared; much heat, and very much inflamed, 
and attended with severe pain, so that he was frequently unabled 
to attend to business. He had offered large sums of money to 
be cured, but could obtain no relief. By the use of the Lini- 
ment and Diaphoretic Drops, he was cured Of the complaint in 
about one week, and still remains free from disease." 

Cold Plague.— " Another case. — The wife of M. C, Esq., was 
violently attacked with cold plague, in its most frightful form. 
The third day after she was taken, she was bled with bad effect ; 
her friends considered her beyond the reach of medicine, and that 
opinion seemed to be grounded in part, by the evident loss of hope 
expressed by her physicians. For myself, I saw no hope from 
any medicine or mode of treatment of which I had any know- 
ledge, and made trial of your Liniment, as an experiment. I 
caused the Liniment to be applied over the whole surface of the 
body, and placed hot bricks to her feet ; but such was the torpid 
state of her system, that these applications appeared to do no 
good. In a short time I repeated the same means, and the third 
time, placed a plaster of the Liniment on her breast, over which 
a bag of hot oats was applied, which soon caused a copious per- 
spiration. Her fever was in a short time reduced, her pains left 
her, and within twenty minutes she fell into a gentle sleep. The 
next day she was free from pain, and enabled to sit up ; and in 
about three days after, she was entirely restored to health." 



Dysentary and Dyspepsia. — Josiah Rush, of Madison county, 
Ohio, has been afflicted two years with the dyspepsia, very se- 



RHEUMATISM- 319 

verely; so much so, that his physicians had despaired of his life; 
and for the last nine months he has had a continual dysentery. 
He assures me, that within the period of the affliction, he had 
voided more than six gallons of blood; was in continual pain; 
and most of the time was obliged to go to stool several times in 
an hour I n this situation I was called to prescribe for him ; and 
my first application was made of Jewett's Liniment, over the ab- 
domen and back, which relieved him of pain, and checked his 
bowel complaint. He continued this course for about three weeks, 
which entirely relieved him. His bowels have become regular, 
and he is at this time in good health. 

Wm. J. Radcliff, M. D. 
Columbus, June 8th, 1836. 



From Dr. L. G., M. D. 

Asthma. — "A negro woman of ours, that had been afflicted 
with the asthma for twenty years, has been entirely cured by the 
use of your Liniment and Pectoral Tincture. It is now seven 
months since she has had any symptoms of the disease." 



From Dr. B. R. 

Pain in the side, Cough, etc.— "A Mrs. G., a neighbor of 
mine, had been afflicted for several months, with soreness of her 
limbs, pain in the side and breast, loss of appetite, cough, and 
restlessness at night. She grew so bad,, that I was at last called, 
and applied your Liniments, and gave her of your Syrup, for 
three days, when she was entirely relieved of all her complaints, 
and is now entirely restored to health." 

Rheumatism.— " Mr. G. then employed me to doctor his son, 
who had been for three years severely afflicted with the rheuma* 
tism in his shoulders, hack, hips, knees, and ankles. His thighs 
and legs had perished, so that they had almost the appearance of 
a skeleton. I applied your remedies for the rheumatism fully in 
this case, and in a few days he was able to walk, and is hoav en- 
tirely well." 



320 TESTIMONIAL. 

Inflammatory Fever. — A Mr. R., was attacked violently by 
an inflammatory fever. Dry skin ; pain over the whole body ; 
delirious, and was considered almost beyond the reach of medical 
aid. I thought this to be a good case for a still more thorough 
trial of the efficacy of your Liniment for Fevers, and was deter* 
mined to try it without the aid of an emetic. I did so, by rubbing 
it over the whole surface of the body ; gave him Diaphoretic 
Drops, which allayed the pains, and produced a gentle perspira- 
tion in fifteen minutes. I ordered the Drops continued three hours. 
The next morning I found the fever gone, and the patient entirely 
relieved. 



Severe Case of Cholera Morbus and Fever.— About the 
last of June I was suddenly attacked, at midnight, with pains and 
sickness at the stomach, which continued until daylight, when vo- 
miting, diarrhea, cramps in my limbs, high fever, and pains of 
the most excruciating severity over the whole region of the body, 
rendered me unable to rise from my bed ; in fact, I expected no- 
thing but speedy dissolution. In this distressed situation, relief 
came through the agency of Col. Jewett's Liniment for Fever ; a 
friend applied it twice over my whole body, put hot bricks to my 
feet and sides, applied hot cloths to my stomach and bowels, and 
gave me stimulating powders. These preparations caused a pro- 
fuse perspiration, which continued nearly two hours. As soon as 
the sweat commenced, I became measurably relieved ; soon after 
my pains ceased, and the fever was gone. About one o'clock I 
was washed all over with soap-suds ; the Liniment was again ap- 
plied, and clean clothes put on. My appetite began to return ; I 
slept well the succeeding night, and the next morning was able to 
attend to the avocations of my family. I had been unwell for two 
weeks before this attack. 

Columbus, Aug. 18.. 1836. C. S. 

Remark. — We saw Mrs. S. during her distressing illness, and, 
from our intimate acquaintance with the spasmodic cholera, we 
should have pronounced her case one of that character, had the 
epidemic been among us. In fact, of all the frightful cases of that 
disease, we have seldom seen one more distressing. 



HYDROCEPHALUS, ETC. 321 



From Dr. B. E. 



Rheumatism.-— " A Mr. H., of this county, had been afflicted 
by rheumatism five months, and was cured by a full application 
of your Rheumatic Liniment, in four days. We first cleansed 
the system, and then applied the Liniment. Another patient, who 
had been crippled nine years with the same complaint, has been 
cured in a very short time, by the application of your remedies 
for that disease." 

Wounds. — " One very bad wound, cut to the bone with an axe, 
was healed sound in four days, by the use of your Cerate." 

Nervous Head-ache. — " My father had been afflicted nine 
years with nervous head-ache, and no relief could be obtained by 
medicine. I made one thorough application of Liniment for Head- 
ache ; the pain was gone before I had done rubbing on the Lini- 
ment, and it did not return again for many months. This, how- 
ever, is only one case out of many which have been cured by 
your Head-ache Liniment. I consider it a sovereign remedy for 
all kinds of head-ache." 



From Br. A. McG. 

Hydrocephalus. — " I am happy of having it in my power, to 
state that a most alarming case of hydrocephalus has yielded to 
the persevering use of your Stimulating Liniment. In all my 
experience, I never witnessed so distressing an object who sur- 
vived. Every suture was open to a considerable extent; the head 
hideously enlarged ; the scalp protruded much above the sutures ; 
the eyes were violently distorted; pupils dilated; in fine, every 
symptom usually attendant on the last stages of that dreadful dis- 
ease, was evidently shown. The Liniment was applied three 
times a day, with friction of the hand, and washed with soap suds 
every three or four days, wearing a flannel cap, as steadily as cir- 
cumstances permitted. An application was also made, in like 
manner, to the stomach and bowels, say sometimes once, and 
sometimes twice a day." 
41 



322 TESTIMONIAL. 



From Br. A. E. 



General Debility. — " The first case I have to mention, was 
the wife of J. M., who was, in January last, afflicted with gener- 
al debility, cramp in the stomach, and pains over the whole body. 
I gave her the Antispasmodic Tincture, which gave some relief. 
She was then attacked by slow fever, from which she was partial- 
ly relieved ; but soon after there appeared an ague cake in the 
side; hoarseness, general emaciation, loss of appetite, and a sense 
of extreme burning and sickness at the stomach, which I was un- 
able to remove, by any medicine in my possession. I was there- 
fore induced to resort to your Liniments, which I applied faith- 
fully, and to my utter astonishment, she gained almost instanta- 
neous relief, and was, by a continued application for a few days, 
restored to perfect health, and so remains to this day." 

Croup.—" A child of T. R. was violently attacked by an in- 
flammatory fever. I was called in about twenty-four hours after 
the attack, and applied your Fever Liniment to the throat, back, 
breast, bowels, hands, and feet, which caused a free perspiration, 
and in less than two hours relief was obtained ; and after a second 
application, the child was perfectly restored to health. I could 
wish that thousands of mothers could know these facts, as it re- 
quired but half an ounce of Liniment to effect a cure, and no in- 
ternal medicine was administered." 

Fits occasioned by Croup. — " A child under my care, who 
had had four severe fits, probably occasioned by the croup, was 
almost instantaneously relieved by one application of your Lini- 
ment. I found a second application unnecessary." 

Quinsy. — " A man by the name of P., was so afflicted, that he 
was unable to open his mouth. I applied the Liniment three 
times, which entirely cured him." 

Mental Derangement. — "I was called to visit a man in 
Knox county, who had for some time been laboring under mental 
derangement. He had been attended by gentlemen of skill and 
eminence, and given over by them as incurable. When I first 
saw him, his bowels were considerably protruded; legs, feet, and 



RHEUMATISM, ETC. 323 

arms cold; and was generally debilitated. I applied your Fever 
Liniment to his legs and arms, and the Nerve Liniment to his 
head, neck, and on the whole length of the spine. He directly 
became partially relieved. The same application was made a 
number of times, and in a week after, he went to Mt. Vernon on 
business, in his right mind. When I first saw him, nearly every 
third pulse intermitted ; in less than one hour after the first appli- 
cation, they became regular." 

Rheumatism. — "A Mr. I., of Newark, had for years been occa- 
sionally afflicted by rheumatic pains. When I was first called to 
prescribe for him, he had labored eighteen days continually under 
a severe paroxysm of the disease. I applied the Liniment for rheu- 
matism three days, accompanied by Diaphoretic Drops and ner- 
vine tincture, which cured him of the complaint." 

Bronchocele. — " L. M.'s wife of Clay Lick, has been afflicted 
for twenty years with bronchocele to such a degree, that she was 
unable to bend her neck, or look down on objects near her, and 
was much distressed in respiration. She applied the Stimulating 
Liniment, and gained much Immediate relief. The swelling di- 
minished fast and at this time she is entirely free from the com- 
plaint." 

From Dr. G. B. Key, Porter smile, Mississippi, Sept. 2d, 1836. 

Chills, Fever and Fits. — ." With regard to chills and fever, I 
have never failed in curing it by one or two applications of your 
Fever Liniment. It is very rare indeed that two applications have 
been necessary. 

" I cured one case of fits with the Nerve Liniment in two hours, 
without any internal remedies, for the patient was rendered inca- 
pable of swallowing by the severity of the disease. 

" With your remedies I can cure fevers in one-half the time that 
it will require by any other practice." 



Rheumatism, Liver Complaint, Dropsy and Tumefaction. — 
" I certify that my wife, aged sixty years, has been afflicted tor 



524 TESTIMONIAL* 

the last seven years with the liver complaint. The whole body 
became much swollen, and was severely afflicted with the rheu- 
matism ; her flesh drawn up into knots in different places ; joints 
stiff; soon after she was afflicted with the dropsy. With all the 
medicine I was able to procure, she obtained no more than tempo- 
rary relief. She became afflicted with large tumors on her shoul- 
ders, arms, knees and ankles ; a nervous affection, and bowels 
much out of order. In this situation, I applied Jewett's Stimula- 
ting Liniment on the whole surface of her body, at the rate of four 
ounces per week, for a considerable length of time, without any 
sensible effect. I gave her diaphoretic powders, and, by the ap- 
plication of the Liniment for four weeks, I discovered the tumors 
became softer, and her dropsical affection was relieved. By a con- 
tinuation of these remedies, her tumors are at this time nearly gone, 
and her general health improved, with a fair prospect of enjoying a 
comfortable degree of health. 

Henry Pickerell, of Logan Co. 
Columbus, Sept. 6, 1836." 



From Dr. A. E., Newark, Ohio, Sept. 2, 1836. 

Chronic Diseases. Promotion of Equilibrium. — " In my 
practice, I have found your remedies the most ready in producing 
an equilibrium in the system that I have ever met with. In chro- 
nic diseases, when the patient has been reduced to death's door ; 
pulse hardly perceptible, and extremely slow, I have, by the ap- 
plication of your Liniments increased them thirty beats in a minute, 
in less than an hour : and, in other cases, where the pulse ran to 
one hundred and twenty beats in a minute, I have, by the same 
process, reduced them to eighty, in six hours. Thus these reme- 
dies restore vital action with a readiness heretofore unknown in 
the practice of medicine." 



From Dr. B. F., Salisbury, Meigs co., Ohio, Sept. 12, 1836. 

Chronic and Pulmonary Complaints, Fever, Pains, Phthi- 
sic and Dyspepsia. — " I have long been trying to get time to doc- 



BILIOUS FEVER, ETC. 325 

tor myself for chronic complaints, the greatest of which is dyspep- 
sia. But a press of professional business compelled me to defer it 
until I was prostrated with the disease. The seventh day after I 
commenced applying your remedies, a breaking out appeared over 
the whole surface of my body, like the measles, which I have no 
doubt was a humor which has been my companion ever since I 
had the measles, when about twelve years old. This was the 
opinion of a very learned physician to whom I applied for advice. 
He called my complaint consumption, occasioned by the measles 
striking in. I have had a cough during my illness, probably from 
the same cause. Notwithstanding the long standing of these com- 
plaints, I now consider them all broken up. My appetite is good, 
and I am gaining strength. Since I have been able to visit my pa- 
tients, I have applied your Liniments to a boy who was taken the 
day before with a high fever, which continued intermitting until I 
saw him. During the whole time he was almost choaking with 
phlegm, so much that it was distressing to be near him. I rubbed 
him with your Liniments from his head to his hips, and applied a 
plaster to his stomach, and between his shoulders ; gave him some 
stimulating powders, and in a few minutes his respiration became 
easy, and in a short time after it caused him to vomit the phlegm 
from his stomach, and directly he called for food; and from that 
;ime he has been entirely relieved. 

" A Mrs. Green, of this county, had been afflicted with pains in 
her side for many months. Her husband called on me. I gave 
him four ounces of Liniment, and I am assured it effected an im- 
mediate cure. 

" A daughter of Mr. Skinner, of Rutland township, had been for 
a long time afflicted with the phthisic, and an eruption of the skin 
all over her body, which they called the hives : and for several 
years had had the dyspepsia. The Liniment was applied, which 
was the only medicine relied on. I am informed by the father of 
the patient that the Liniment has cured her of all her complaints, 
and that she is now the most healthy child he has." 



From Dr. F. C, East Monroe, Ohio, October 5, 1836. 
Bilious Fever, Dyspepsia. — " There have been but three cases 



326 TESTIMONIAL. 

of bilious fever, (all violent,) in this neighborhood of late. Two 
were treated with the usual practice, and one with your Liniment 
and Diaphoretic Drops. These two were four weeks getting up. 
The one treated with your remedies was well in three days. In 
that case, your drops were fully tested to my satisfaction. An in- 
veterate case of dyspepsia has been cured by the use of four oun- 
ces of Liniment and one bottle of Vegetable Syrup." 



From Dr. Jonathan Morris, Wliiteley, Greene county, Pennsyl- 
vania, September 24, 1836. 

Suppressed Menstruation, Cholera Infantum, Liver Com- 
plaint, Head-ache, etc.—" But a few weeks have elapsed since 
I was an eye witness to the good effects produced by your prepa- 
rations, particularly your Liniments, in a cure of obstructed men- 
struation, cholera infantum, liver complaint, head-ache, and many 
other complaints. They have been of great advantage to me in 
my practice. I was called to see a child laboring under the 
last stages of cholera infantum. All hopes of recovery were lost 
by the friends. I applied the Liniment to the thorax and the bot- 
toms of the feet, with some warming tea internally, and, in one 
hour, a change for the better was visible, and the child continued 
to mend, until restored to perfect health. I could give many more 
cases in which the good effect of the remedies was very apparent." 



From Dr. A. E., Newark, Ohio, November 1, 1836. 

Congestive Fever. — " Michael Edwards, aged ten years, was 
attacked with congestive fever. 

" Symptoms. — Cold chills ; pain in the head, back and limbs ; 
flushes of heat ; tongue livid, moist, and sometimes the appear- 
ance of thrush ; delirium, and entire prostration, within six hours 
after the attack. 

" Treatment. — I applied the Fever Liniment on the whole sur- 
face of the body generally, and the Nerve Liniment an the head 
and spine ; gave him stimulating draughts ; placed hot bricks 
around him, and gave him the Diaphoretic Drops as per d'rections, 



LIVER COMPLAINT, ETC. 327 

once in twenty minutes. He was thrown into a perspiration, 
which was kept up for two or three hours ; and the effect was, he 
was relieved from pain, his reason restored, and, in a degree, the 
fever arrested. After which I caused him to be washed in a tub 
of hot water, and salt and water ; then applied the Liniment again. 
In about one day he was restored to health, though much weak- 
ened by the severity of the disease. 

Palpitation of the Heart and Vertigo.—" Mrs. Cruzen, 
of Licking county, was suddenly attacked with palpitation of the 
heart, and dizziness ; and, in a few minutes, became blind and 
prostrated. There being no physician, and having some of your 
Liniment at hand, the friends applied it freely to the breast and 
spine ; soon after she became sick at the stomach, and vomited 
freely, which caused a perspiration. She then fell into a gentle 
sleep, and on awaking the next morning, she was restored to 
health. 

Inflammation of the Urinary Canal.—" Andrew Lider had 
labored under an inflammation of the urinary vessels for more 
than a year ; the pain attendant on voiding urine was most intense ; 
he became partially deranged. Every effort of medical aid had 
failed of giving relief, until I caused a general application of the 
Nerve Liniment on the back, spine, and in the region of the kid- 
neys, and the Stimulating Liniment, on plasters, low on the re- 
gion of the bowels, and on the perineum, relief was obtained. 
These applications were continued for four months, and the patient 
is now able to attend to business. 

Liver Complaint.- — " Abraham Hall had been for some time af- 
flicted with a most severe affection of the liver ; extreme pain in the 
side and shoulder-blade ; languor ; much emaciation, and irregular- 
ity of the bowels. He had for a number of months been treated with 
various remedies, without gaining any relief. I was called to pre- 
scribe for him, and adopted the following treatment : I gave him 
your Vegetable Syrup freely ; applied your Stimulating Liniment 
over his whole body twice a day ; next a plaster on the affected 
side ; gave him the Diaphoretic Drops freely, and placed hot bricks 
around him at night, which caused a perspiration. The case was 
so obstinate, that it became necessary to pursue this course for near- 



328 TESTIMONIAL. 

ly two months ; he gradually recovered, and is now attending to 
his usual avocations." 



From Br. A. JE., September 26, 1836. 

Prolapsus Uteri.— " A lady in Coshocton county had been af- 
flicted with prolapsus uteri for six years. The symptoms were, 
nervous tremors, wandering pains, general debility and gloomy 
sensations, which are the usual attendants of this complaint. All 
efforts for relief had proven ineffectual, until I was called, and 
caused your Liniment to be applied on the lower part of the abdo- 
men, on her back and breast, with plasters of the same on the bot- 
toms of the feet. I then ordered her to make use of your Female 
Drops in half tea-spoonful doses three times a day. In about four 
weeks I saw her again when she attested she was relieved. The 
whole expense of medicine for this extraordinary case was but 
about two dollars and fifty cents. 

Bronchocele.- — "A Miss Shannon, of Licking county, had been 
afflicted with the above complaint for two years. Neck enlarged 
to twice its natural size; system emaciated, difficult respiration, 
so much so as to be obliged to be bolstered up in bed during the 
night, and unable to perform any labor. All previous prescrip- 
tions for relief had proved ineffectual. I was called. I ordered 
your Stimulating Liniment to be applied to the neck two or three 
times a day, which was done and continued for two months, and 
which entirely cured the complaint. She took some of your Veg- 
etable Syrup internally. 

Dyspepsia, Liver Complaint, Deranged Menstruation, and 
Quotidian Ague.— "A Miss Gosnell, of Licking county, had 
been severely afflicted with dyspepsia, liver complaint, and de- 
ranged menstruation, for nearly two years, and when I was called 
to visit her, she had daily chills and fever. I commenced by ap- 
plying your Liniment over the whole body once in two days, at 
the same time applied the Liniment three or four times a day over 
the region of the pain, and applied plasters to the breast, bowels, 
back, and bottoms of the feet; and, at the same time, gave her 
your Diaphoretic Drops three times a day, at which periods I ap- 
plied hot bricks and threw her into a free perspiration. I also 



RHEUMATISM, ETC. 329 

gave her your Vegetable Syrup. This course was pursued about 
six weeks, when the patient was entirely restored to health. 

Typhus Fever. — "A young man had been four days afflicted 
with an inflammatory fever. I was called and applied your Fever 
Liniment over the whole surface of the body, with hot bricks to 
his sides and feet, and gave him your Diaphoretic Drops accord- 
ing to directions, which caused a profuse perspiration. The next 
morning he was up and free from fever. He took a walk, and 
when in a perspiration, washed himself in cold water, which threw 
him into a violent chill, followed by a fever of the typhoid type, 
delirium, wandering pains, and extreme restlessness. I com- 
menced by applying two ounces of Fever Liniment at once, gave 
him freely of the Diaphoretic Drops, and applied hot bricks to 
his feet and sides. This caused a profuse perspiration; in about 
three hours he was relieved, and the next morning he was in a 
state of convalescence, and in a few days was able to attend to bu- 
siness." 



From Rev. Jeremiah Hill, Muskingum county, October 14, 

1836. 

Dyspepsia, Head-ache, Pain in the Breast, and Bite of 
the Copperhead. — "I have found your Liniment very beneficial 
to me for pain in the breast, with which I have been afflicted. I 
have used it considerably on others, with good success, especially 
in head-ache. In one instance I found it successful in curing a se- 
vere bite of a copperhead snake. Having had occasion to travel 
considerably, in connection with the use of your Liniment, my 
health has been greatly improved, and dyspepsia cured." 



From Thomas C. Lewis, Esq., Portsmouth, Ohio, October 
15, 1836. 

Rheumatism, and Suspended Animation by Drowning. — "I 
have proven the efficacy of your remedies in several instances, 
one of which was a case of rheumatism in the knees. The Lini- 
ment was rubbed on, and a small quantity of the Diaphoretic Drops 

42 



330 TESTIMONIAL. 

given internally, which cured the patient. Another was the bring- 
ing to life of a boy of Mr. Clugston's watch-maker, of this place, 
who had been drowned by the sinking of a skiff in which he, 
with some other boys, was taking an excursion. When taken 
from the water he was entirely senseless and apparently dead. I 
applied your Liniment, and in fifteen minutes animation returned 
and he was in a profuse perspiration." 



From Dr. Jonathan Morris, Whitely, Pennsylvania, October 
17, 1835. 

Bilious Cholic, Scarlet Fever.— •" I congratulate you on be- 
ing so happy as to apply your preparation to the afflicted, and the 
effects thereof producing immediate relief. Last week I had one 
case of bilious cholic in a lady who had been subject to it. I had 
relieved her several times, but all medicines seemed to fail of 
curing, until your Stimulating Liniment was applied to the feet, 
wrists, thorax, and abdomen, with friction. In two hours she 
was relieved. Also, in the scarlet fever, I have seen its salutary 
effects verified. Your invaluable medicines are far superior to 
any I have tried." 



From E. C. Keckley, M. D., Charleston, S. C, October 25, 

1836. 

Cholera, Sciatica, Swelling of the Jaw, Piles.— "I have 
used your Stimulating Liniment in cholera. I found it to answer 
my greatest expectations. I found no difficulty in relieving cramps 
with it. It is excellent; it is superior to any other article which 
I have tried. I have used it in as severe a case of sciatica as I ever 
saw, in an old negro, with complete success, after five or six rub- 
bings. Indeed the first rubbing produced comparative ease. I have 
used it in a swelling of the jaw, from a decayed tooth, with suc- 
cess, after a few rubbings. The jaws were completely locked. 
So far as I have used your remedies, I have succeeded. I can 
now recommend them with confidence. Your pile salve suc- 
ceeded in two cases of not very long standing. 



PILES, ETC. 331 

From Dr. J. B. €., Big Prairy, Wayne county, Ohio, Novem- 
ber 2, 1836. 

Fits, Fever, Intermittent Fever, Head-ache, Sprains, 
Bruises, and Pains. — "As to the efficacy of your Liniments, I 
have used them in two cases of fits, two cases of fever and ague, 
several cases of fever, sprains, bruises, head-ache, and pains of all 
kinds; and have found them excellent remedies for the afflicted, 
giving almost immediate relief in the most acute forms; and I am 
fully confident that in chronic complaints, which have progressed 
so far as to render an entire cure uncertain, relief may be obtained, 
and many lingering diseases perfectly cured. Not long since, I 
was called to visit Catharine Wells, of Clinton township, Wayne 
county, who was afflicted with fits. When I entered the room, 
the spasms were so violent that it required three men to hold her 
on the bed. She had been in the paroxysm six hours. I applied 
your Liniment to her temples, thorax and soles of the feet; gave 
her a tea-spoonful of your Diaphoretic Drops, and in fifty minutes 
she was entirely relieved, and next day about her work." 



From Dr. S. D., Sandy Creek, Neiu-York, November 3, 1836. 

Hemorrhage from the Lungs. — " If I had had time, I should 
have written to you before, concerning the wonderful effects of 
your Liniments in many cases. By the use of them I have saved 
many cases that were given over to die; especially one of bleeding 
at the lungs. The patient had suffered with it for eighteen months; 
had been bled once in two or three places to stop the pressure at 
the lungs. He discharged a large quantity at a time. When I 
began with him, I was told that I might as well go to the grave- 
yard for a patient as to try to cure him. But, by the use of the 
Liniment and the other remedies, his health is entirely restored, to 
the astonishment of all his friends." 



From D. J., Dayton, Ohio, Nov. 17, 1836. 
Piles. — " Henry Walker, of Beaver township, Greene county, 



332 TESTIMONIAL. 

was afflicted with piles for upwards of twenty years, for which he 
applied every thing he heard recommended for that complaint, and 
got no relief. Last April he applied to me. I gave him a box of 
your Pile Salve, about half of which completely relieved him; he 
remains well to this day." 

I certify that the above statement of D. J. is correct and true. 

Henry Walker. 

Certified on the 5th November. 



From Br. T. N, Xenia, Ohio, Nov. 17, 1836. 

"As for your Liniments and Cerates, I cannot extol them too 
highly. I have successfully treated the following cases with them 
since I was with you, viz: hydrocephalus, fluor albus, fevers, 
worms, uterine diseases, milk-sickness, dyspepsia, measles, pleu- 
risy, piles, rheumatism, diseases of the urinary functions, pains, 
irregular menstruation, pulmonary complaints, aphtha, flux, poly- 
pi, erysipelas, wens, jaundice, etc." 



Frcm Dr. D. H. Union, Morgan county, Geo., Nov. 16, 1836. 

"On the 6th of August, I obtained a hundred dollars worth of 
your preparations. In one month, I administered to seventy-three 
patients, with good effect. Of these, fifty-eight cases were fever, 
six midwifery, two asthma, two kings-evil, two rheumatism, one 
dropsy, one consumption, and one broken limb; and they are all 
restored to health. I am entirely out of your remedies; and now 
I realize their value more than when I had them. I feel it a mat- 
ter of much importance to possess the means of lessening the suf- 
fering of the human family, in so high a degree as I have found 
your remedies to do. I can safely recommend them to the public. 
They have so far exceeded my anticipations, that I cannot practice 
without them; and I find that, with the aid of your Liniment, I 
can attend to more patients than myself and partner could last 
year." 



CONSUMPTION, ETC. 333 

From Dr. D. H. M., Paris, Ky., Nov. 24, 1836. 

" I have used your preparations in at least one hundred cases 
since I obtained them last summer, and I do not recollect a single 
instance in which there was not a decided benefit derived from 
them; and in many instances, instantaneous relief was obtained. 
Your Head-ache Liniment is very notorious; I have had calls for 
it more than fifty miles from this place. Its virtues have been 
fairly tested in this section. One or two applications have suc- 
ceeded in curing the most inveterate cases I have ever been ac- 
quainted with. I am equally pleased with all your preparations, 
and I could say as much for all, as for the Head-ache. I cured a 
case of scald-head of nine or ten years' standing, with two appli- 
cations of Cerate, and one of Tetter Salve." 



From Dr. M. McC, Clear Spring, Maryland, Nov. 30, 1836. 

Dysentery, etc.' — "A few months ago I procured a few bottles 
of your Liniments, and applied them in several cases with great 
success. The first, a small child, who, from its infancy, had not 
enjoyed one hour of good health, was perfectly cured, and is now 
one of the most healthy of the family. I have also cured cases 
of dysentery, with your remedies, in a few hours." 



From Dr. A. W., Rome, Tenn., Dec. 2, 1836. 

" I purchased two bottles of your Liniments, and gave them a 
trial on my son, who was very low with an inflammation of the 
lungs. A few applications of your Liniment, with a dose of phy- 
sic, quite relieved him, and he is now in good health from these 
applications." 



Consumption.— -Mr. Randolph Elliott, a planter from the State 
of Mississippi, came to Columbus in September last, and applied 
to us for relief from a pulmonary complaint, with which he had 
been afflicted for thirteen years. When he arrived in this city, he 



334 TESTIMONIAL. 

was much emaciated — so much, that frequently he was unable to 
walk any distance, after being seated for some time: he had ex- 
treme weakness in his joints, swelled ankles, hectic cough, and 
pain in the left hypochondriac region. We applied our remedies 
for five weeks, in which space of time his health was nearly re- 
stored, his cough had left him, he had strength to walk several 
miles without any tremulousness, and he returned home with full 
confidence that a continued application would restore him to per- 
fect health. The beneficial operations of the remedies in this case 
were so apparent, that the excretion of morbific matter by the ex- 
halants was astonishingly facilitated, and was perceptible on the 
linen. 

jCF" We have since received a letter from this gentleman, stat- 
ing that his appearance was so much improved, on reaching home, 
that some of his most intimate acquaintances scarcely knew him. 



Mr. Carlos Barnes, from Michigan, came to this city about the 
middle of November, for the purpose of placing himself under our 
treatment. He was afflicted with stiffness and soreness in the 
joints of the lower extremities, with a very perceptible creaking 
whenever they were moved, and the feet palsied, occasioned by 
the inflammatory rheumatism, with which he was attacked five 
years ago. Last fall he was attacked with intermittent fever of 
the tertian species, which gave a desperate shock to his system, 
and brought on a consumptive cough, with profuse evacuations of 
blood from the lungs, and general emaciation. In about ten days 
from the commencement of our prescriptions, his cough was re- 
lieved, his general health much improved, the synovial membranes 
of the joints relaxed, and he, also, left us with full confidence that 
a continuation of the same treatment would restore him to health. 
Both the above gentlemen assured us they had tried, without suc- 
cess, every other means within their reach. 



I have been afflicted with the inflammatory rheumatism for six 
years. About two months ago, I was taken more severely than 
usual. I was confined to my bed for two weeks, without being 



CHILLS AND FEVER, ETC. 335 

able to gain any permanent relief. I was also afflicted with a se- 
vere cough, loss of appetite, cold chills, and sick stomach. The 
rheumatic affection became most distressing in my breast. From 
all these afflictions I have been relieved by an application of Jew- 
ett's Liniment, worn on plasters which covered my breast, sides, 
and back, and the bottoms of my feet. In two days after I ap- 
plied it, my cough was relieved, my appetite returned, and in 
about a week I was able to attend to business. This relief was 
obtained without the exhibition of any internal medicine. 

C. M. Smith. 
Columbus, Feb. 21, 1837. 



Chills and Fever, Obstructed Menstruation, Mental De- 
rangement. — About two months ago, a daughter of S. Thomson, 
of Fayette county, was severely attacked with chills and fever, 
and obstructed menstruation, and extreme pains in the back and 
limbs. After having been bled freely, she became delirious, and 
remained for four days the most distressed object imaginable. 
When I was first called to her, I administered three doses of your 
Diaphoretic Drops, applied plasters of the Stimulating Liniment 
to her neck, bowels, and feet, and rubbed her generally with the 
Liniment, and put hot stones to her feet, back, and bowels. In a 
short time, she was thrown into a profuse perspiration, which gave 
her relief, and in a few hours her reason returned, when she was 
relieved from pain. The next day found her able to rise from the 
bed, and in less than a week restored to perfect health. 

Edward Stubblefield. 

Fayette county, January 19, 1837. 

Remark. — We have had under our own treatment, and reported 
to us, a vast number of cases of female complaints, in all their va- 
rious distressing forms, wherein our remedies have proven effica- 
cious in a high degree. Indeed, we have not known a failure. But 
we have found it extremely difficult to give publicity to the cases 
reported. Were the fact known, that a sure and sovereign reme- 
dy is discovered for those complaints, thousands of valuable fe- 
males who are at this time laboring under uterine affections, would 
find means to obtain the remedies for their relief. 



336 TESTIMONIAL. 

A case has recently come under our treatment, in this city, of a 
lady who was reduced to the verge of the grave by excessive he- 
morrhage, who was almost instantly relieved by the application of 
our Stimulating Liniment, and the Vegetable Syrup, and in a few 
days was restored to health. 



Incurvation of the Spine — Affection of the Heart and 
Breast. — Four years ago, I became afflicted in the back, with se- 
vere pains in the region of the spine ; from thence, it appeared in 
my sides and at the termination of the breast bone. About eigh- 
teen months after suffering as above stated, the distress settled 
about the heart and breast. For along period, I experienced a 
sharp piercing pain, once in eight or ten minutes, through the 
heart, terminating in the right side, that could not have been more 
severe had a knife pierced my body. Two years after I had been 
thus afflicted, an incurvation of the spine took place, by which I 
was drawn down, and the back bone enormously distended with 
severe pain. These afflictions were attended by general debility, 
and continued for more than three years. Having despaired of 
any relief, for all means tried had failed, I heard of Jewett's reme- 
dies, and, as a last resort, procured some. I applied his Stimula- 
ting Liniment for a considerable length of time, accompanied with 
his Vegetable Syrup and Diaphoretic Drops. I directly found re- 
lief, and continued to mend, so that, at this time, my general health 
is good, my back is nearly straight, and I have done more labor 
since my relief than for eight years before. 

David Culp. 

Columbus, February 1, 1837. 



From Jonathan Morris, M. D., WJiitely, Green county, Pa., De- 
cember 16, 1836. 

Bilious Colic — Cholera Infantum.— "I have proven your 
Liniments in bilious cholic, cholera infantum, and many other 
forms of disease, to my satisfaction. They are far superior to any 
remedies I have heretofore known. 



NERVOUS AFFECTIONS, ETC. 337 

From Dr. A. W-, Rome, Tennessee, December 2, 1836. 

Inflammation of the Lungs.—,, I procured two bottles of your 
Liniment, and applied it on my son s who was very low with an 
inflammation of the lungs, which relieved him ; and now, three 
weeks after the first application, he is enjoying good health*" 



From Dr. Ji. E., Pleasant Hill, Coshocton county, December 

4, 1836. 

Nervous Affections — " A lady of this county has recently come 
under my treatment, who had been confined in bed for two months, 
with general emaciation ; prostration of the nervous system ; lum- 
bago ; constipation of the bowels ; wandering pains ; and, fre- 
quently, flashes of fever. She had been treated, during the above 
period, by the most skillful physicians in the county, all of whom 
pronounced her recovery hopeless. I was called, and applied your 
remedies, which threw her into a state of convalescence in a few 
days ; and, in a few days more, she was able to start on a journey 
to Virginia. 

Numb Palsy.— •" Another case has recently come under my treat- 
ment where the efficacy of your remedies proved all-powerful. A 
lady, of rather slender habit, took cold some time last summer : 
soon after, she became perfectly stupid, and almost insensible ; 
her left side and left eye were apparently dead, cold, unnatural, 
and helpless, though she breathed freely ; her pulse strong, irregu- 
lar, and vibrating. In this distressed situation, she remained two 
or three months. When I was called, I applied your remedies 
freely ; left her a good supply, with directions ; and when I visi- 
ted her again, a week after, to my utter astonishment, I found her 
convalescent. In this case, about ten ounces of Liniment was 
used in a week. From my own experience, I do not believe that 
one case in a thousand would fail if your remedies were freely 
applied." 

N. B. — Both ladies, above mentioned, enjoy good health, and 
are perfectly free from all disease. 
43 



338 TESTIMONIAL, 

From Dr. J. J. Foster, Pinckneyville, S. C, January 4, 1837. 

Hemorrhage, Prolapsus Uteri, Fever. — ,, I am happy to in- 
form you that, so far as I have used your remedies, they have been 
attended with general good success. In an hour or two, I arrested 
a hemorrhage, occasioned by a fall from a horse, in a lady, who 
expected an abortion by the accident. Another : a case of prolap- 
sus uteri was cured by the Liniment and Stimulating Powders, in 
which case the Liniment was repeated three times a day. A com- 
plete cure was effected.* I have used your Liniments in fevers 
freely, with good success. A negro man had had a fever for a 
week without medical aid : I found him helpless and deranged ; 
he had been so for thirty-six hours. I repeated the Liniments, 
each three hours, over the whole surface of the body ; gave Sti- 
mulating- powders every half hour; and, in two hours from the 
first application, he was in a free perspiration, and, in an hour 
more, discharged freely from the stomach and bowels, and was in 
his right mind. I continued the above course. No other medi- 
cine was made use of, and he was able to set up the next day ; he 
got well shortly after. A girl in the same family had the fever : 
she would not take any medicine, internally, at all ; but, by the 
application of the Liniment alone, was cured of the fever in twen- 
ty-four hours, so that she has had no return of it. Her tongue be- 
came clear, her appetite good, and she is perfectly well." 



From Dr. John Steele, Frankford, Missouri, February 26, 1837. 

St. Vitus Dance. — " I have had one case of St. Vitus' dance 
since I last wrote you, — a young man about seventeen years old, 
whose left arm, leg, and thigh were greatly affected— his mental 
functions were much impaired, attended with symptoms of con- 
sumption. I brought him to my house, and commenced the treat- 
ment of his case by giving him diaphoretic tea, and on the second 
day an emetic, at the same time making use of your Nerve and 
Consumption Liniments. The fourth day, I used a vapor bath, 



* It is now no longer an experiment; thousands have been cured, who, 
until of late, had no other prospect than to "linger in pain" all their days. 



BOWEL COMPLAINT, ETC. 339 

etc., still using the Liniments. As soon as this was done, 
he came to his proper mind, the spasms were allayed, except a 
slight moving in his hand, which continued for a few days. He 
has been here two weeks ; has been mending every day, and is 
now well." 



From William P. Payne, Esq., Flat Rock, Ky., January 8, 

1837. 

Cholera, Malformation of the Heart. — " More than two 
years ago, I gave you a statement of my afflicted child, of seven 
years old. He was, as was thought, a blue child. The most 
learned physicians pronounced it a malformation about the heart, 
or obstruction in the ventricles. All the faculty who examined 
him pronounced his case incurable. I applied your Stimulating 
Liniment to the child, and placed plasters over the region of the 
heart — dressed him with flannel shirts, and continued this course 
until his skin became tender, when I discontinued the application. 
From the use of the Liniment, his health is greatly improved, so 
much that we have ceased giving him any thing in the way of 
medicine. In the summer of 1835, the spasmodic cholera visited 
us. This same boy was attacked very bad : I gave him stimula- 
ting medicine internally ; rubbed him with the same over the sur- 
face of the body, and then, with your Liniment, applied a plaster 
of the same over his stomach and bowels ; applied hot bricks to 
his sides and feet. In twenty minutes, the rice water discharges 
were checked entirely, and in two hours he was up and about the 
house. His eyes had sunk, his features distorted, his skin shrunk, 
before I could produce a reaction ; but his recovery was instanta- 
neous. One of my servants, who was unable to labor more than 
half the time, has, by the application of your Liniment, been 
greatly improved " 



From John Nay lor, Esq., St. Charles county, Missouri, Jan- 
uary 9, 1837. 

"I would suggest the propriety of an arrangement for a deposit 



340 TESTIMONIAL. 

of Jewett's Remedies in this State, if there be not already such an 
arrangement made. I the more readily recommend the above from 
the fact of having received relief by the Liniment myself. In de- 
scending the Ohio river in July, 1835, in a steam -boat, I experi- 
enced a severe attack of the stomach and bowel complaint. A gen- 
tleman on board recommended and furnished me with some of the 
Liniment, the application of which had an immediate salutary ef- 
fect. In experiments made since, with the same medicine, I have 
always found it proved beneficial." 

Remark.' — Were every boat that descends the Mississippi fur- 
nished with our Liniments, a vast amount of human suffering 
would be mitigated. The application is so simple, and the relief 
so ready, that it would seem to be designed peculiarly for sailors. 
We know of many who will not sail without it. 



From Dr. Aaron Edwards, Pleasant Hill, Coshocton county, 
January 10, 1837. 

Congestive Fever. — -"A daughter of a Mr. Nichols, of Lick- 
ing county, was attacked in November last, with congestive fever. 
The symptoms were, pain in the head, back and limbs; cold chills 
in the back; cold extremities; convulsive twitchings in the limbs, 
accompanied with a burning fever; delirium; eyes protruded; 
tongue moist, with a red appearance through a milky coat of white. 
In fact, every symptom indicated sudden dissolution. About 
twenty-four hours after the attack, I was called to prescribe. I 
applied the saline vapor bath, with a free use of the flesh brush, 
and friction with the hand; caused your Fever Liniment to be ap- 
plied over the whole surface of the body, and applied hot bricks 
to her feet and sides; gave her Diaphoretic Drops, which caused a 
free perspiration in a few minutes, which appeared to arrest the 
disease at once, for she became convalescent in a few hours. Two 
days after, finding some lingerings of the fever, I applied the same 
course to her again, Avhich restored her to perfect health in three 
days. 

Whooping Cough.—" One of my own children was attacked a 
few days since with the whooping cough. I prescribed no medi- 



FITS, RHEUMATISM, ETC. 341 

cine for him for several days, when I applied your Cough Lini- 
ment to his neck, back, breast, and the bottoms of his feet, which 
at once stopped his whooping. In three hours after, I made a 
general application of the same Liniment, and the third time I ap- 
plied it, he was entirely relieved of the complaint, and it has not 
returned on him. 

Pains in the Breast, Sickness at the Stomach, and Loss 
of Appetite. — "A young lady in Roscoe was severely afflicted 
with pains in the breast, sickness at the stomach, and loss of appe- 
tite. She was perfectly cured by one application of your Stimu- 
lating Liniment. In this case the Liniment was very freely ap- 
plied to the stomach, which caused vomiting equal to that of an 
emetic. 

Case of Puerperal Fever. — -"In October last, the wife of 
John Miller, of Licking county, was brought to bed, and the pla- 
centa was removed by force; orthopncea; located inflammation, and 
distension of the abdominal and uterine parts. In. this situation, 
she took a violent cold, when she became stupid; hot fever; wan- 
dering pains, particularly in the uterine region. When I was 
called, I nrsrcommenced by applying the Nerve Liniment freely 
over the whole surface of the body, three times in twenty-four 
hours, and gave her freely of the Diaphoretic Drops, which soon 
caused a free perspiration, and she became more sensible, when 
her friends thought her to be dying. She, however, soon became 
convalescent. The same course was repeated, which entirely 
cured her in a few days, and she is now in good health." 



From Rev. B. i?., Fayette county, Ohio, January 16, 1837. 

Fits and Rheumatism. — "After administering your remedies 
for nearly one year, in a'great variety of cases of the most obsti- 
nate and unyielding nature, with unparalleled success, it is due to 
the public, and to suffering humanity, that I state some more rare 
cases, which have been successfully treated by me. The wife of 
Thomas Jones, of this county, had been afflicted for nearly three 
years with epileptic fits, occasioned by previous female Complaints. 



342 TESTIMONIAL. 

I applied your Nerve Liniment about the head, neck and the 
whole length of the spine, which relieved her in about two weeks. 
I will mention a case of rheumatism. Joseph Heaton had been 
afflicted more than two years with pains in the arms, legs, hips 
and joints generally, which became so severe about his thigh that 
it was drawn out of the socket. I made a full application of your 
Liniment for Rheumatism over his whole body, applying it more 
freely about the disjointed hip, and in less than two weeks his 
pains were removed, the tension of the muscles about the thigh 
became so relaxed that it returned to its socket, and at this time he 
is in perfect health." 



From Dr. T. S. M., Athens, Georgia, January 16, 1837. 

Bruise, Piles, and Constipation of the Bowels. — The 
small amount of your remedies I have obtained has done wonders. 
A gentleman by the name of Wilson, in getting out of his wagon, 
fell and bruised his ankle very much. It became swollen to a 
great size. He used your Liniment three times, and it entirely 
relieved him. A Mr. Davis had had the piles for a number of 
years, with constipation of the bowels. I applied your Pile Salve; 
gave him your Diaphoretic Drops, and he is now willing to testify 
that he is in better health than he has been for years. I have met 
with equal success in fever cases, rheumatism, etc." 



From Rev. John Clark, College Farm, near Lawrenceburg, la., 
January 23, 1837. 

"Allow me, in the first place, thankfully 'to acknowledge the re- 
ceipt of your medicines, a favor that has brought me under an 
obligation of which I am not insensible. They have answered, 
I think, fully equal to your own expectations, and far exceeded 
mine. I have not been afflicted with piles in the slightest degree, 
since a short time after I received the Salve. From several I have 
received thankful acknowledgments of the instant relief obtained 
from head-ache and rheumatic affections, by an application of the 
Liniment. In my own family they have been of great service." 



CHRONIC COMPLAINTS, ETC. 343 

From Br. JR. S. G., New- Castle, Henry county, Kentucky, Jan- 
uary 25, 1837. 

Fever, Colic, Pleurisy, etc.— "I have applied your Lini- 
ments in fevers, colic, pleurisy, sore throat, pains in the joints, 
and head-ache, and found all that was necessary was but one or 
two rubbings, and if they ever fail, it is because they are not ap- 
plied according to your directions. Your Cough Liniment is a 
most invaluable preparation. Some time since, I took cold from 
great exposure, which settled on my lungs. I applied this Lini- 
ment three nights by the fire, just before retiring to rest; and I am 
well. Your Diaphoretic Drops, Syrup, Pectoral Drops, Cerate, 
and Liniment for Rheumatism, I have found equally efficacious in 
the diseases for which they are intended." 



From Br. N. Berry, Reedy Fork, S. C, February 1, 1837. 

Rheumatism. — " Your remedies have far exceeded my most 
sanguine expectations. In a case of rheumatism, I have witness- 
a cure where every other prescription failed. Sick head-ache, 
bowel complaints, pains in the back, sprains, etc., have been 
readily cured, much to the satisfaction of the patients and their 
friends. 

Chronic Complaints. — " I was called a few days ago, to visit 
a lady thought to be dying, by the name of Mich en. When I 
arrived, the family were in great distress, holding her up by the 
side of the bed, bathing her feet in warm water ; she appeared to 
be in the last agonies of death. Her pulse had ceased to beat ; 
her jaws were set, and of course she was speechless. I had with 
me four ounces of your Liniment, which I directed to be imme- 
diately applied. Six ladies commenced rubbing on the Liniment ; 
two on her feet and legs, two on her hands and arms, one on her 
breast and jaws, and one on her back and between her shoulders. 
In twenty-five minutes she recovered and spoke, and assured us 
that at the commencement of applying the Liniment, her eye- 
sight and hearing were nearly gone. I am happy to say she is 
still mending. Her disease has been chronic, of long standing, 



344 TESTIMONIAL. 

It will be proper here to state, that as soon as she was able to 
swallow, I gave her your Diaphoretic Drops freely, and placed 
hot stones at her feet and sides. So far was nature sunk, that no 
perspiration could be raised for a long time ; her flesh was cold ; 
the blood had ceased in a measure to circulate. One of the ladies 
who administered to her relief, declared she felt during the time, 
as if she was attempting to restore the dead to life. She is now 
in the enjoyment of perfect health." 



From Rev. R. McDaniel, M. B., Paris, III., February 3, 1837. 

" I am happy to state, with regard to your remedies, and their 
curative qualities, that my acquaintance with them has been suffi- 
cient to enable me to bear decided and unequivocal testimony in 
favor of their excellency in affording prompt and permanent re- 
lief, when properly applied, in fever, scrofula, bowel complaint, 
pleurisy, head-ache, uterine hemorrhage, etc.; and as to the ex- 
pense, which some interested individuals have attempted to make 
a scare crow, it certainly does not exceed that of prepared medi- 
cine generally, especially when all the important advantages are 
taken into account." 



From Dr. J. W. B. T., Perry town, Harrison county, Va., 

February 24, 1837. 

Piles. — " About two years ago I was troubled very much with 
the piles, and was for a long time seeking for relief, but without 
success, until* I obtained your Pile Salve, a few applications of 
which afforded me entire ease, and I was apparently free from 
the disease. No symptom of it appeared for four months, when 
I felt a slight attack. I again applied the Salve, one application 
of which entirely cured me, and I have not been troubled with it 
since. Out of the same bottle, I supplied a gentleman who had 
been afflicted with the same complaint for a great number of years. 
He was frequently unable to ride on horseback, or attend to busi- 
ness. He had but about one thimble full, which he used, and he 
now informs me that he is entirely well." 



FEVER LINIMENT, ETC. 345 

Rheumatism. — " My brother-in-law has been using your Lini- 
ment for Rheumatism. He had been afflicted very severely with 
that complaint, and by an application of the Liniment for two 
weeks, has effected an entire cure." 



From Drs. Warren and Shelly, New Market, East Tennessee, 
February, 12, 1837. 

" Your invaluable remedies have acquired a distinguished repu- 
tation, so far as the use of them extends. In relation to our own 
particular knowledge of their efficacy, we are proud to say, that 
we believe no account we have seen published in the Advertiser, 
surpasses its true merit. In no place have we applied the Lini- 
ments, where there was not more or less benefit derived therefrom. 
In some instances, where all other remedies failed, it has succeed- 
ed beyond our most sanguine expectations. Your Fever Lini- 
ment is truly astonishing in its effects. Please explain, in your 
next Advertiser, its principle of action, in so quickly regulating the 
pulse, and changing feverish excitement, in all febrile diseases." 

Remark. — The above inquiry may be answered in the lan- 
guage of an eminent scientific physician, whose extensive practice 
with our Liniment for Fever, has elicited the following remarks : 
*' Your Fever Liniment, being an extensive composition of highly 
concentrated therapeutical agents, containing stimulating, tonic, 
diaphoretic, cathartic, emetic, and nervine qualities, all of them 
so nicely balanced, that when the stimulants and diaphoretics 
cause a free perspiration, and extensive discharges of morbific 
matter, the tonics support the system, and the patient retains his 
usual strength through the operation. If the mucus membrane of 
the stomach be coated, the same remedy will readily remove this 
obstruction, causing it to pass off through the intestinal canal. If 
the stomach be bilious, a full application of the Liniment to the 
pit of the same, with warm cloths applied, will cause gentle vo- 
miting, and the stomach is relieved. If the bowels have become 
constipated, and are inclined to inflammation, the stimulating and 
purgative qualities of the Liniment, give action to the bowels, caus- 
ing free discharges from the same, and the patient is relieved with- 
out being subjected to a long state of convalesence." 
44 



346 TESTIMONIAL. 



From Dr. A. D. 



" A NEW MODE OF APPLYING YOUR HeAD-ACHE LlNIMENT.-— I 

have been attending a lady who has, for a number of years, been 
laboring under a complication of chronic complaints of the worst 
character, and among them was the sick head-ache. She became 
relieved of all her difficulties, excepting an occasional return, in a 
slight degree, of the head-ache. She applied the Liniment upon 
the inside of the nose, and though it was pungent and a little pain- 
ful at first, she was entirely relieved in five minutes, and she has 
ever since been entirely free from the disease." 



From E. C. Keckeley, M. D., Charleston, S. C, Feb. 12, 1837. 

" I used your Consumption Liniment in a case of spitting of 
blood, with a disposition to consumption. I used about one half 
an ounce with so much relief, that the patient, on leaving town, 
requested some to carry with him. In rheumatic compaints, your 
Liniments are superior to anything I ever tried. For pains of 
every description, they are excellent ; I find no difficulty in speed- 
ily relieving them by your Liniments. I have used your Vege- 
table Cerate in a case of sore nipples, with complete success in a 
day or two. It is excellent for eruptions on the skin, ringworms, 
etc.' , 



From Br. T. F. D., Adrian, Michigan, February 18, 1837. 

Bowel Complaint. — " I have been in the use of your remedies 
for the last six months, with the most satisfactory results. I will 
mention one remarkable case of a child of two and a half years old, 
afflicted with the bowel complaint. This child was treated at 
first in the usual practice of calomel and astringents, without bene- 
fit, until the physician pronounced the case incurable. When I 
was called, I made use of such remedies as I have usually prescri- 
bed in such cases, for six days, when the physician who first at- 
tended her, gave an opinion that death would terminate the dis- 
tressing scene in two or three days. Just at this time I obtained 
some of your Liniments. The first application produced a bene- 



ASTHMA, ETC. 347 

ficial effect, to the astonishment of all the friends, and by a contin- 
uation of the same remedy a few weeks, the child was perfectly 
cured." 

Remark. — Had Dr. D. been in possession of our Liniment for 
cholera morbus, and applied it according to directions, the relief 
would have been much more ready. We have never known a 
case where an entire cure was not effected in one or two days, if 
this Liniment had been freely applied. 



From Mr. A. Stockbarger, Licking county, Ohio, January, 

1837. 

Piles Cured. — " I have been afflicted with the piles for twelve 
months severely every day, from which I have been relieved by 
Jewett's Pile Salve. I never had a return of the complaint after 
the first application." 



From Caleb Brooks, Esq., Licking county, February, 1837. 

Pleurisy.' — >" My wife was attacked about the 12th of this 
month with a pleuritic affection very severely, pains in the shoul- 
ders, etc. She was in the most distressed condition imaginable. 
Jewett's Stimulating Liniment was applied to her side and shoul- 
ders freely, accompanied with the use of the Diaphoretic Drops, 
and in one hour she was relieved from the complaint ; no other 
remedies were made use of." 



From Major Alexander M. Allen, of Jefferson county. Geo. 

Cases of Asthma, Cough and Fever. — " I have used Jewett's 
Stimulating Liniment for the asthma and a severe cough, and 
have found them to produce very great relief, being more prompt 
and efficacious than any remedies I have before used, having speed- 
ily caused a complete cessation of the diseases. I have witnessed 
the beneficial effects of Jewett's Fever Liniment in relieving my 
daughter from an intermittent fever of long standing, and restoring 



348 TESTIMONIAL. 

her to a greater degree of health and strength than she has enjoy- 
ed in some months. 
Feb. 25, 1837." 



From Mr. Jeremiah Vinson, of Burke county, Virginia. 

Case of Fever and Ague, akd Pleurisy.—-" In December 
last, I was taken with a severe ague, pain in the breast, and cough, 
with a high fever, which continued, but moderated just before the 
period of the chill, which occurred every day. 

" I was in this situation one week, the whole of the symptoms 
becoming more severe and distressing, when I made use of Jew- 
ett's Liniment for Fever, according to the directions, which pro- 
duced a profuse perspiration, and continued so for some hours, 
which relieved all the symptoms, mitigated the cough, entirely re- 
moved the pain in the breast, and completely overcame the fever, 
which never returned ; a continued use of the Liniment for several 
days entirely removed the remaining cough, and restored me to 
entire health, which I continue to enjoy. 

February 23, 1837," 



From Dr. Thomas M. Henley, Walkertown, Virginia, January, 

1837. 

" I had, during the last fall, about eighty patients, with different 
diseases, in which cases I used your Liniments, accompanied 
with internal stimulating medicine. Out of this number I lost but 
two small children, neither of whom were treated with your reme- 
dies. I was at once enabled to arrest the fever with these agents. 
I can with confidence say, your remedies arc harmless in their 
operation, relieving pains of all kinds at once, and they produce a 
pleasant operation when properly applied." 



From Dr. S. P. Pool, Mecklenburg county, Virginia, February 
16, 1837. 

" I have procured and used a small quantity of your medical 
preparations, and every person who has tested them, is highly 



CROUP, ETC. 349 

pleased with the effects produced by them. My wife, who was 
on the verge of the grave with a liver complaint, has been relieved 
by them." 

From Dr. John Steele, Frankford, Missouri, February 26, 1837. 

" Had I room I could give many names that would give certifi- 
cates to the good effects of using your remedies ; but it is enough, 
or ought to be enough, for the people to know that wherever your 
remedies are used, the demand becomes great." 



From J. J. Moorman, Esq., Highland county, Ohio, February 

16, 1837. 

Tumors, Bronchocele. — " I have been using your Liniments 
in my family for more than a year, and have uniformly received 
the most decided advantage therefrom. My wife had lumps on 
her eye-lids, which were pronounced by the physicians as incura- 
ble by any other method than being cut out. I applied your Lin- 
iments to these tumors for three weeks, which removed them en- 
tirely. Before she made the application, it was with difficulty 
she could open her eyes. My mother has been afflicted with a 
bronchocele for ten years ; neck much enlarged. She applied 
your Stimulating Liniment for a considerable length of time, 
which has reduced the enlargement, and she is now perfectly re- 
lieved from the complaint." 



From the Rev. Wm. Dale, Alexandria, Tennessee, March 6, 

1837. 

Croup. — " I received a small portion of your Sttmulating Lini- 
ment from a friend. My daughter's youngest son, a fine, fleshy, 
child about a year old, was taken ill with croup, and, her hus- 
band being from home, she became very much alarmed, and came 
with all haste, with her son, to my house, expecting he would die 1 
on the way. I directed her to bathe his feet in warm water, and I 
then applied the Liniment to the bottoms of his feet, and to his 



350 TESTIMONIAL. 

throat and stomach, which produced a considerable perspiration ; 
and the happy result was, he obtained immediate relief. The next 
day, on returning- home, the child took cold, and the croup return- 
ed very bad. She made a similar application, and the like happy 
results followed. Another daughter of mine was taken with the 
cholera morbus, which produced a severe pain across the abdomen, 
and cramped her dreadfully. She got no relief until I directed an 
application of the Liniment to the affected part. Immediate relief 
was obtained. A son, from Florida, lately returned from the Se- 
minole war, had a very bad pain in the left side of his breast ; only 
two light applications removed it entirely. And I have found re- 
lief, myself, from the dreadful pain in my head." 



From Joseph Nollner, M. D., and L. P. Portlock, Norfolk, 
Virginia, March 9, 1837. 

" Having frequently used yeur Liniments, etc., and clearly test- 
ed their medicinal virtues in curing head-ache, back-ache, colic, 
fevers, hip-joint affections, rheumatism, cuts, bruises, etc., we do 
not hesitate to recommend them to the afflicted as safe remedies." 



From Dr. Thomas Nash, Norfolk, Va., March 9, 1837.' 

" I dare say nought against your medical remedies which have 
so often proved highly valuable and worthy of the character which 
they bear, whenever they have been faithfully and properly ap- 
plied. I should do you great injustice were I to withhold my 
testimony in favor of your preparations for external use." 



From James B. McCord, M. D., Richmond, Ray county, Mo., 
March, 1837. 

Bilious Spasmodic Colic.—" Among the many cures which 
have been favorably effected with your remedies, I wish to state 
one of bilious spasmodic colic which took place under my own 
observation. A young man was attacked with pains and cramps, 



MENTAL DERANGEMENT, ETC. 351 

in his bowels, of the most extraordinary nature. He remained in 
this situation from Monday until Wednesday, when an applica- 
tion of your Liniment was made to his bowels, and one potion of 
Diaphoretic Drops were exhibited, which gave relief quickly, and 
the next day he was in sound health, though much weakened ; no 
other medicine was made use of." 



From Mr. William Moore, of Burke county, April 4, 1837. 

Case of Fever, Liver Affection, and Pleurisy. — " I have 
been in bad health for several years past, particularly by periodi- 
cal attacks of fever and ague in the fall seasons, which left a seat- 
ed affection of the liver and enlargement of the spleen. I was at- 
tacked, in January last, with chill and fever, attended with a vio- 
lent cough and severe pain in the breast. I made application of 
Jewett's Liniment for fever, which entirely relieved the chill and 
fever, removed the pain in the breast, and eased the cough, both 
of which occasionally returned ; but a continued use of the Lini- 
ment for about one week performed an entire cure of those symp- 
toms, and restored me to ordinary health; a further use of Jewett's 
Stimulating Liniment has reduced the spleen, and caused me to 
be in the present enjoyment of better health than for a long time 
previous." 



From Dr. E. F., Factory Point, Vt., April 4, 1837. 

Mental Derangement, etc.' — " The credit of your medicine 
is established here. One of the first cases in which I tried them 
was a young man in an awful state of mental derangement. He 
had been in this way for three months — became greatly emaciated, 
and refused to take any medicine. I recommended the application 
of your Liniment, which was made with much difficulty, however, 
and, in three weeks, his mind was as rational as ever. Soon after, 
sore eruptions took place about his head, and were, in a short 
time, cured. Another case was a young man who had been con- 
fined with scrofulous swellings for five years, who, by the use of 



352 TESTIMONIAL. 

six ounces of your Liniment, was much relieved, and is now evi- 
dently getting well." 



From Br. J. Steele, Franliford, Mo., May 4, 1837. 

" I will give you a case of fits cured by your Liniment and Dia- 
phoretic Drops. A child of two years had, in twenty-four hours, 
eleven fits of the worst kind: they were convulsive. The family 
had, just before the attack, read your Advertiser for the first time. 
After the child had suffered a day and a night, I was sent for. I 
found the child then under the paroxysms of the eleventh fit, and 
I really believed it to be its last. By a faithful application of your 
remedies, the child had no more fits, and in two days it was well. 
Two weeks have elapsed since, without return of the fits." 



From Rev. William Dale, Alexandria, Tenn., October 19, 1837. 

" Previous to my leaving home, the latter part of August, on a 
preaching tour of twenty-two days, I made an application of your 
Rheumatic Liniment on the spine, hips, and knees, beginning at 
the neck and so on downwards, applying it with friction and heat. 
It produced a powerful effect on the kidneys, and I think will re- 
lieve the diabetes, which I have been troubled with for years. It 
loosened the joints of the small of my back, which had been en- 
tirely stiff for years, and I can now bend either backwards or for- 
wards ; also my knees, which had been as fast and immovable as 
if clenched, became loosened. When sitting in a position to swing 
my feet, I can use them as far as they go, nearly as well as I ever 
could ; though my hips are not yet better, my head is much re- 
lieved. I certainly have gathered considerable strength. I was 
from home, as above stated, twenty-two days, during which time 
I traveled more or less every day. I preached ten times in eight 
days, which is more labor than I ever performed in the same 
length of time. If I could stay at home a while, attend strictly 
and closely to your prescriptions, I doubt not I should receive 
much more benefit. 

" My wife's sister was taken with a pain in her left jaw, which 



FEVER AXD AGUE, ETC. 353 

swelled dreadfully, to obtain relief from which, she tried every 
thing she could think of, and every thing 1 her physicians prescri- 
bed ; but, instead of getting better, it got worse. She felt fearful 
of applying your Liniment, notwithstanding our advice to that 
effect. At last she became alarmed ; the swelling was suppura- 
ting, and it was too late to apply any thing to disperse it ; and, as 
a last resort, she applied your Liniment. The first night, she 
found ease and rested well, which prompted her to persevere, and, 
astonishing to relate, the pain first gave way, then the swelling 
subsided, and she is now entirely well. She says ' It was almost 
a miracle.' 

" The Head-ache Liniment is highly esteemed by all who have 
used it." 



From Br. John Hilton, Portland, Maine, October 23, 1837. 

" After I wrote you in July, I was unable to go from home a 
number of weeks from a severe kidney complaint ; but, through 
a faithful application of your Liniment and other medicines, my 
health is better than for years. My success in practice has been 
remarkable. Fevers have generally been arrested with one appli- 
cation of the Liniment, and the patient at work the third day. In 
some cases, they have walked about in six hours. In all diseases, 
the relief granted has been proportioned to the degree of perseve- 
rance. I had an interesting case immediately after my arrival 
here : a child of Elder Wilson, four years old, had been sick, for 
a week, with fever and inflammation of the bowels ; had taken 
four full and one partial course of medicine ; but grew worse. 
Your Liniment was then applied, and relief granted in six or eight 
hours ; then, by throwing off the clothes, the child took cold and 
relapsed. The fever was more violent, and the bowels worse in- 
flamed ; but, by a renewed use of the Liniment, was relieved again 
in two days, and was soon running about." 



From Dr. Richard Cherry, East Monroe, 0., October 29, 1837. 

" I will not be without your medicine, if I can raise the means 
to obtain it. It is the best remedy that I have ever tried for everv 
45 



354 TESTIMONIAL. 

complaint incident to the human race ; more particularly for fever 
and ague, which I have effectually proved." 



From Dr. JL. Edwards, West Carlisle, O., November 17, 1837. 

" Were it necessary, I could give more marked cases than 
would fill your Advertiser ; but let one suffice. I was lately call- 
ed to a lady, sixteen miles from this place, afflicted with fever of 
the congestive type. She had been faithfully attended by a phy- 
sician near two weeks ; the second one was called in consultation, 
and, finally, I was sent for. I immediately went, and found her 
delirious, the fever raging fearfully, with great prostration of the 
living power ; no appetite for food, but raging thirst, and such a 
degree of irritation in the stomach that every thing taken into it 
was immediately thrown off; constipation of the bowels, great 
restlessness, and a constant picking at the bed clothes ; pulse 
intermittent. 

" I applied the Liniments for Fever, Nerves, and the Stimula- 
ting, according to circumstances, until I had four ounces absorbed 
into the system, with plasters on the stomach, bottoms of the feet, 
and back, and administered an injection impregnated with Diapho- 
retic Drops, which caused a reaction in about two hours, and pro- 
duced a copious perspiration which had not been effected before. 
The result was, she was restored to her reason, the fever gave 
way, appetite for food returned, with a fair prospect of entire re- 
covery." 



From the same, December 30. 

"A Mr. Daniel Harvey, of this county, was afflicted with a 
very alarming disease of the urinary organs, bloody and painful 
discharge of urine, distention of the abdomen, with a callous-like 
feeling, liver complaint, piles, and general prostration, — so much 
so as to be unable to help himself,— attended with frequent parox- 
ysms of excruciating pain; which diseases, in part or whole, had 
been his constant companions for many by-gone years. In this 
situation, I was called to see him: and by a constant and unremit- 



WEAKNESS, ETC. 355 

ting application of your medicines, the distention gave way, the 
pain ceased, sleep was restored, appetite better, the urinary organs 
so revived that he commenced passing large quantities of hard 
substances of a dark-red color, varying from the size of a pepper- 
corn, larger and smaller, which gave him relief. At first they 
were discharged frequently, and in large quantities; latterly more 
seldom, and in less quantities, with less pain and difficulty. I sup- 
pose he has discharged one hundred, as I have in my possession 
nearly fifty pieces. When I visited him last, he was able to sleep, 
rest, and eat, dress himself, walk about, and direct his business, 
with a fair prospect of getting entirely well." 



From Dr. J. B. McCord, Liberty, Clay county, Mo., November 

21, 1837. - 

" I have just returned from a visit to Lafayette, a distance of 
forty miles, where I was called to see a lady afflicted with liver 
complaint and inflammation of the bladder^ attended with a severe 
stricture of the urethra. Three physicians attended her, without 
being able to afford relief. I directed a free use of your Stimu- 
lating Liniment, and some Diaphoretic Drops, which reduced the 
inflammation, removed the stricture, and enabled the patient to 
enjoy refreshing sleep." 



From J. Hilton, Portland, Maine, January 8, 1838. 

"A lady completely emaciated, unable to do any work, com- 
menced the use of the Liniment. The morning after the first ap- 
plication, she was enabled to do part of the work of her family; 
and now (five weeks) she does all her work, and has received her 
natural strength. One case of tic douloureux was relieved by 
two applications. Many cases of fever have been removed by one 
application. Several cases of pain have been relieved while in 
the act of applying the Liniment. Hooping-cough has been re- 
lieved immediately, though very bad cases. Rheumatism has been 
cured permanently." 



356 TESTIMONIAL. 

From Samuel H. Saunders, London, Ohio, Jan. 6, 1838. 

Milk-Sickness. — " It is a duty I owe the public, to certify the 
cures that have been effected by your invaluable medicines in my 
family. Your Liniment had a very happy effect upon my daugh- 
ter, in a case of pleurisy. I left with her a portion for a renewed 
application; but the first having completely restored her, it was 
deemed unnecessary. 

While on my way home I partook of some cream, and two 
days after my arrival, I was attacked with milk-sickness. My 
physician administered a cathartic, and checked the disease; but 
for eight or ten weeks my legs were pained with the effect of the 
poison, when I determined to make use of your Liniment. I rub- 
bed it on my limbs twice, on successive evenings, but was pre- 
vented from making a third application by incidental circumstan- 
ces; and before the fourth evening came round, I found myself so 
relieved from the pain and leaden weight of my limbs, that I for- 
bore to renew the use of the Liniment for the time being: and to 
this day, I was effectually relieved, and therefore can with confi- 
dence recommend its use for removing the effects of milk-sick- 



From Dr. T. Powell, Burlington, Vt., Jan. 17, 1838. 

" In relation to your remedies, I must say, that so far as I have 
become acquainted with their use, they are undoubtedly calculated 
for the cure of many diseases." 



From Rev. E. McDaniel, M. D., Beardstown, Illinois, January 

1, 1838. 

" Every useful and honorable consideration impels me to exert 
myself for the dissemination of your remedies." 



From E. Wilkinson, East Bethany, N. Y., Jan. 5, 1838. 
M I have of late been most of the time confined to my room: I have 



CONSUMPTION, ETC. 357 

found more relief from your medicine, than any other I have made 
use of. I have cured one case of rheumatism in my family of six 
years' standing, with your Liniment. 

"A sister of mine was thrown from a horse, some ten years ago, 
her head coming in contact with a stone, which fractured her skull. 
She has had much burning and giddiness in her head, with great 
irritation of the nerves. The use of your Liniment has, we think, 
nearly or quite effected a cure. She has not had any of these 
symptoms since its use. I think much of your preparations— I 
hold them in high estimation, believing them to be a safeguard 
from disease, for a family." 



From Josiah F. Danforth, Walnut Forest, Mo., Jan. 15, 1838. 

Head-ache. — "Dr. Walker, of Pulaski county, purchased of 
me a vial of your Head-ache Liniment, for his wife, who was very 
distressingly afflicted with head-ache. The doctor says that she 
would lay for hours completely prostrated, with apparently no 
hopes of life. He applied it, and administered some of the Pec- 
toral Drops, which have effected a radical cure." 



From B. G. Key, Portersville, Miss., Sept. 9, 1837. 

" I could give you a detail of a good many cases that have re- 
ceived signal benefit by your remedies, but let two suffice. 

" 1st, Miss Stanly, who had been laboring for the last ten years 
under a complication of diseases, viz: inflammation of the liver, 
lungs, and enlargement of the spleen. Her physicians declared 
that she could survive but a short time, after which she became 
suddenly worse. When I was called to see her, she was truly in 
a critical situation. I prescribed the Fever Liniment, Pectoral 
Tincture, and Diaphoretic Drops, which subdued the inflamma- 
tion; then made use of the Stimulating and Consumption Lini- 
ments, and Vegetable Syrup; which course persevered in, raised 
her from a bed of affliction to attention to her domestic concerns. 
She now enjoys good health. 

" 2d. A negro boy of a Mr. Stamply, was in a consumption. 



358 TESTIMONIAL. 

The rest of his family died about the age of twelve years, of the 
same complaint, and this boy appeared to be declining as fast as 
did the rest of the family; and knowing that it was useless to 
make use of the means which he had heretofore done, I was call- 
ed, though without any expectation, on the part of Mr. 8., of de- 
riving benefit; but after a partial use of the medicines, he found 
that the boy began to revive, which encouraged him to persevere. 
He is now lively and active, has regained his flesh, and is entirely 
cured of the complaint." 



From Rev. E. McDaniel, M. D., Cass county, Illinois, Sept. 25, 

1837. 

" Last month I procured from my brother, near Paris, a small 
quantity of your medical preparations. I had been troubled, for 
about two weeks, with a diarrhea; and while attending a camp- 
meeting at Grand view, it grew worse. I used one thimble-full of 
your Liniment, and soon obtained relief. I next ordered it used 
in a case of bloody flux, and it effected a good end; I next ordered 
it used twice in case of chills and fever, and a cure was effected: 
next day my own child was affected with diarrhea, which I cured 
by one application." 



From Dr. A. C. Jeivett, Daviess county, Ky., Sept. 25, 1837. 

" Many are embracing your remedies, and using them with 
marked success. A number of cases of bilious, inflammatory, 
and intermittent fever, of our climate, have come under my care, 
which have been arrested with precision and certainty. The Li- 
niment for Head-ache has established itself beyond any other arti- 
cle — it never has failed, in any instance, of giving relief." 



From C. Barnes, Weymouth, Ohio, March 15, 1837. 

Rheumatism — Consumption. — " More than five years ago I 
was attacked with inflammatory rheumatism of the severest kind, 



RHEUMATISM, ETC. 359 

in my feet and knees, which kept me in constant pain, day and 
night, for three months ; deprived me of sleep, except while under 
the influence of opium, and rendered me so completely helpless, 
that I was unable to turn myself in bed without assistance. My 
appearance, after this prostration, was almost that of a living ske- 
leton. The inflammation then began to subside. In March, I 
could, by the aid of crutches, and one assistant, walk about my 
room. I gained strength gradually, until July, when I was able 
to walk without crutches ; but still the disease did not leave me. 
Though the inflammation was gone, the joints were stiff; the 
muscles contracted, and the toes drawn out of joint, particularly on 
one foot, which was entirely useless. My physicians gave me no 
further encouragement, and, with much candor, told me that no- 
thing more could be done for me, and that I would probably re- 
main a cripple. I was, however, determined to seek relief. I 
resorted to the Welsh Medicamentum — the Thompsonian reme- 
dies—Morrison's Hygeian Pills — E. Dean's Chemical Plaster,-— 
and, finally, the famous Kitterage Ointment ; all these modes and 
medicines, were, in succession, long and faithfully persevered 
in, each, from three months to a year. 

" Some of them seemed to give partial relief at first ; but a re- 
turn of my complaints, with still greater force, indicated that their 
only effect was, to aid the disease in undermining the remnant of 
constitution still remaining to me. Hope was gone, when your 
Register, containing the words, so encouraging to the afflicted, of 
" No Cure, No Pay," accidentally fell into my hands. My hopes 
revived, and I determined on visiting you forthwith ; but suddenly 
I was attacked with a bilious fever, and then, by fever and ague, 
which confined me eight weeks ; gave a terrible shock to my sys- 
tem, and left me with a severe cough. In a short time, profuse 
evacuations of blood from the lungs took place, attended with other 
symptoms, evidently of a pulmonary affection. My rheumatic 
complaints were severe as ever ; and when I arrived in Columbus 
in November last, I was thought, by all who saw me, to be on the 
very brink of the grave. 

" By ten days use of your medicines for cough, consumption 
and rheumatism, I became so much relieved, that my cough had 
almost left me ; my appetite was good, and I was otherwise so 



360 TESTIMONIAL. 

much improved, that, instead of remaining with you nine months 
or a year, as I had contemplated, I left for home. 

" I have made constant use of the medicines, and I now feel, 
almost, like a perfectly well man. My cough is gone; I am 
gaining flesh and strength ; the swelling and stiffness in my 
limbs are gone ; my appetite remains good, and my system is re- 
gular in all respects.''' 

Remark. — A few days since we received a letter from the writer, 
of the above article. The state of convalescence he speaks of con- 
tinued without interruption, and he is, at this time, July 1838, and 
has been long since, without further occasion for medicine, and is 
in the enjoyment of good health. 



Rheumatism. — " Nearly two years ago I was severely attacked 
with rheumatic pains in my back, limbs, feet and hands ; my dis- 
tress was so great that my limbs became nearly useless, and the 
distress followed me, without intermission, for a long time. At 
length it became periodical, and so continued until sometime in 
September last I made application of Jewett's Liniment for Rheu- 
matism, accompanied with his Diaphoretic Drops, which afforded 
relief in a short time, and I was perfectly cured of the complaint 
in one week, and so remain at this time. Once, since being cured 
as above stated, I experienced a slight attack, which was immedi- 
ately relieved by applying the Liniment. I consider this cure 
more extraordinary, on account of my age, which is sixty-four 
years. Mary Sterret." 

Remark. — The signer of the above certificate is the lady of 
Col. Sterret of this city, who is one of the oldest and most respec- 
table inhabitants of the State. 



From James B. M'Cord, M. B., Elkhorn, Ray county, Mo., 
September 6, 1837. 

Inflammatory Rheumatism. — "I was called to see Mrs. Hard- 
ley, laboring under bilious inflammatory rheumatism. She was 



BILIOUS INFLAMMATORY RHEUMATISM, ETC. 361 

much reduced, the pain appeared to be mostly confined to the 
wrist and hand, which were much swelled and inflamed, and the 
pain was very acute. She had exhausted the skill of her physi- 
cian in vain. I gave her Diaphoretic Drops, and applied the 
Rheumatic Liniment, her pain ceased, she rested and slept com- 
fortably at night, and in four days was up and about her house." 



Inflammatory Rheumatism. — Six months ago, I was attacked 
severely with the inflammatory rheumatism. On the commence- 
ment of the attack, I was swollen in my arms, knees, ankles, and 
legs, attended with the most excruciating pain, and so prostrate 
that I could not be removed from my bed, without the assistance. 
of two persons. By the remedies I applied, I gained some tem- 
porary relief, but no cure. Nearly two months after, I applied to 
Col. Jewett for his remedies for rheumatism, which, in the course 
of a week, gave me temporary relief. I continued the use of the 
Rheumatic Liniment, Vegetable Syrup, and Diaphoretic Drops, 
accompanied with a saline bath, for about two months, when I 
became entirely restored to health. There still remained some 
stiffness in my limbs, which has been relieved by an occasional 
use of the Liniment. I have been subject to this complaint from 
early life, and seldom obtained any mitigation in a less time than 
six months, and generally longer. 

Thomas F. Jones. 

Columbus, February 8, 1837. 



From James B. M'Cord, M. B., Bay co., Mo., July 10, 1837. 

Bilious Inflammatory Rheumatism, Chronic Complaints. — 
" I feel with many others, free to bear testimony to the efficacy 
of your invaluable medical preparations. Since I received my 
last supply I have been thronged with business from all directions. 
A severe case of bilious inflammatory rheumatism has recently 
come under my treatment; in fact, so prostrated was the patient, 
that both physician and friends had entirely despaired of his re- 
covery ; and he assured me, that to see his house crowded with 
46 



362 TESTIMONIAL. 

his friends, to see him breathe his last, filled his mind with de- 
spair. At this critical period I arrived ; placed bricks to the fire 
to heat — gave him your Diaphoretic Drops freely, and applied 
your Liniment for Rheumatism over his whole body, and placed 
the warm bricks around him. This treatment soon caused a pro- 
fuse perspiration ; pains gradually subsided, and a continuation of 
this treatment for a few days, restored him to such a state of 
health, that he was enabled to start on a journey to Alabama. 

"A great number of chronic complaints, such as consumption, 
liver complaint, scrofula, etc., have been cured by your remedies, 
and many recent diseases have been almost instantaneously reliev- 
ed. These are stubborn facts, and I will not withhold my testi- 
mony, believing it the duty of every good man to do what lies in 
his power, to promulgate a knowledge of the best means of re- 
lieving the sufferings of human nature." 



Paralysis. — Col. Jewett: I hasten to perform a duty I owe to 
you, in stating the results of my experience in the use of your 
medical preparations. As it respects my general health, it is 
much improved, which I ascribe to your Vegetable Syrup and 
Liniment. I experience little or no pain ; there remains a slight 
constriction of the muscles, which I have no doubt would have 
been entirely removed, if I had followed your prescriptions to the 
letter. In more than a dozen cases, your Rheumatic Liniment has 
granted relief. In one case of twelve years' standing, and another 
of a child who had lost the use of its limbs. I have felt richly re- 
warded for all the trouble I have had in promulgating a knowledge 
of your remedies, by the blesssings they have dispensed to the 
afflicted around me. 

C. Blrnside. 

Gambier, February 12, 1838. 



From J. E. Todd, Esq. Carlowsvitte, Alabama, June 26, 1837. 

" In my own family, I have generally found your remedies to 
answer well, the purposes for which they are intended. A phy- 
sician near me, has been in the use of your Liniments for the last 



SUNDRY CASES. 363 

eight months ; he speaks in the most flattering terms of their re- 
spective merits." 



From Hugh Quinn, M. I)., Missionary Station, Ga., June 16, 

1837. 

Sundry severe cases cured. — " I had made up my mind not 
to use any of your highly recommended remedies, until I saw 
the recommendations of two highly respectable gentlemen, which 
induced me to seek and obtain a four ounce bottle of your Stimu- 
lating Liniment. I began to use it on myself, and applied it to an 
old wound in my hand, from an injured cartilage, which rendered 
the middle of the fore finger useless and painful. It acted like a 
charm, one application removed the whole disease, and it has not 
returned since, though five months ago. My success in this case, 
prompted me to make trial on a valuable servant, who had, for a 
long time, been afflicted with a chronic pain in the side, which 
had baffled all medical aid which had been resorted to, which very 
shortly gave permanent relief. I have cured another of my ser- 
vants of a chronic erysipelas, with the same Liniment. Shortly 
after, I had occasion to put your Liniment to a severe test on my- 
self, by a fall across the edge of a ferry-boat. I broke the side of 
my breast-bone, and every rib from that down, and injured the 
right lobe of my lungs ; being more than fifty years of age, I an- 
ticipated the most disasterous termination. I did not stand still, 
' shivering on the brink of death,' but began by using some inter- 
nal stimulating medicine and balsam of fir, and your Liniment ex- 
ternally. I soon became convalescent, and am now entirely re- 
stored to health and strength. Besides this, I have, in several 
cases, removed the pains so common in chronic hepatitis, and 
with the addition of my pills for that disease, have performed two 
radical cures. I have cured two cases of rheumatism, and several 
other local pains ; and all this with one bottle of Jewett's Lini- 
ment. I have thought, sir, it was due to you and the public, that 
I should acknowledge the great benefit that myself and others 
have derived from one bottle ; and I do not hesitate to say, that if 
properly and perseveringly used, incalculable benefit may be de- 
rived to the human family, by its use. I have lately received an 



364 - TETSIMONIAL. 

additional quantity of the Liniment, since which, I have cured a 
bad case of croup, by the use of it alone." 



From Jonathan Morris, M. D., Whitely, Pennsylvania, July 

8, 1837. 

" I have found your preparations advantageous in cases of scar- 
let fever, colics, rheumatism, head-ache, etc., etc." 



Head-ache.— Col. M. Jewett: Dear sir — I take pleasure in 
communicating the following, as the surprising effects of your 
Head-ache Liniment. I had a slight attack of the head-ache, a 
few evenings since, from which I was relieved by the application 
of a very small portion of your Liniment to my forehead, in a 
few minutes. I called this day to see a female friend, who was 
suffering much from head-ache, which she first felt on rising early. 
I informed her I had derived benefit from the use of your Lini- 
ment. After an hour's conversation, she consented to apply it 
according to the direction, which relieved her entirely in about 
five minutes. She was much surprised at its hasty and happy 
effects, and expressed a wish to have some of this preparation 
always at hand, and inquired where she might procure it. I gave 
her a part of what I had, promising to furnish her more as soon 
as I could procure it. I think you would do well to deposit a 
quantity of your preparations in this city, for they will certainly 
be used as soon as known. 

Very respectfully, 

R. J. Powell, M. D. 

Washington, January 18, 1837. 



From Mary Read, Jefferson, Ohio, February 12, 1838. 

" Having received incalculable benefit from the use of your me- 
dical preparations, in afflictions on my own person, when every 
other remedy I could procure had totally failed of giving relief; 



CONSUMPTION, ETC. 365 

and feeling it a duty, so far as in my power, to dispense the bles- 
sing they afford to the afflicted, I have taken the liberty of narra- 
ting the surprising effects of your remedies in a case which came 
under my own observation. It is as follows : — A gentleman, aged 
sixty-six years, had been afflicted with an erysipelas, more or less, 
from his youth ; and for the last seven years, his whole body had 
become measurably covered with corroding ulcers ; such was his 
affliction, that he assured me he could seldom, if ever, obtain any 
sound sleep ; and many times so tender were the sores, that even 
the bed-clothes could not be borne. He had applied to the most 
skillful physicians, and continued their prescriptions from year to 
year, without any mitigation of his excruciating sufferings, and he 
had despaired of obtaining relief from any other source, than the 
releasement from suffering and pain that is afforded to the afflicted 
by the cold embrace of death. It was in this critical situation that 
one of your Advertisers came under his notice, which induced him 
to apply to me for your remedies ; and, surprising as is the fact, 
by the exhibition of your Vegetable Syrup, Pectoral and Diapho- 
retic Drops internally, and your Stimulating Liniment on the 
sound portions of his body, and your Vegetable Cerate on the ul- 
cers, for the term of about three weeks, his ulcers became healed, 
his general health restored, and he is at this time perfectly relieved 
from all the diseases with which he had been so long afflicted." 



From the Rev. A. Edwards, West Carlisle, Coshocto?i county, 
Ohio, June 17, 1837. 

Consumption. — "I have two cases of consumption which are 
in a hopeful state of convalescence. Had it not been for the un- 
paralleled success I have had with your agents, I should not have 
attempted these given over cases ; but strange as is the fact, I 
have lost but one patient since I adopted your remedies, nearly 
two years ago, and that I pronounced hopeless at first sight. It is 
with heartfelt pleasure I see your system of curing diseases, con- 
stantly marching forward with a steady but unerring step ; and so 
it will continue to proceed, until a knowledge of your remedies 
shall be co-extensive with this wide-spread empire." 



366 TESTIMONIAL. 

From Abraham Halstead, Esq., Williamsport, Ohio, June 20, 

1837. 

" I have full demonstration of the great value of your Liniment. 
One case of a boy, who has recently been raised from an untimely 
grave by them. I say so, because all other remedies failed, and 
by the application of your remedies, he soon recovered." 



From the Rev. E. E. Farrish, Morgan county, Ohio, June 1, 

1837. 

Tetters.—" What I have seen published of your remedies, I 
have found, by their application, to be true. Permit me to men- 
tion one case, of which I do not recollect of having read one simi- 
lar in your paper. A gentleman called on me for something to 
cure a tetter on his wife's hand. I gave him twenty-five cents 
worth of your Tetter Salve, which was applied ; and the result 
was, that it effected an entire cure. Her hand had been very bad, 
so much so, that she could not attend to the common avocations 
of her house. I have since called on her, and find the hand still 
well. I have seen great benefit from your fever remedies among 
children." 



From Van V. Reeves, Esq., Hardin county, Ohio, July 17, 

1837. 

Sick Head-ache. — " When traveling through Columbus, in 
April last, I called at your store to procure some Head-ache Lini- 
ment for my wife, who has been .afflicted with the sick head-ache 
from her childhood. The next day after our arrival at this place, 
she was severely attacked. She applied your Liniment as direct- 
ed, and she got relief on the first application. She had no more 
for six weeks, when a slight attack occurred, which was instantly 
relieved by an application of the Liniment. I consider this cure 
the more extraordinary, as she has frequently been confined for a 
week at a time. I send this communication for no other purpose 
than bearing my testimony to the unequalled virtue of this remedy." 



CONSUMPTION, ETC. 367 

From Solomon Allen, Snow Camp, North Carolina, 6th month 

27, 1837. 

" Thy medicine only need be known, to be appreciated by the 
whole community. I have cured some chronic complaints, after 
all other means had failed. Some wonders have been performed 
by thy medicine. A girl of thirteen years old was suddenly at- 
tacked with a difficulty of breathing, and continued on her contin- 
ually, only when she slept. She had paroxysms three or four 
times a day, which indicated sudden dissolution ; and at the most 
easy times, she would constantly throw herself into different atti- 
tudes at every breath. Some of the symptoms were those similar 
to the diseases of the heart. The most able physicians afforded 
her no relief. Some weeks after I was sent for, and applied thy 
Liniments, with some internal medicine, and she was directly re- 
lieved, and has not had a paroxysm since." 



From John Turner, Fountain Springs, Tennessee, June 5, 1837. 

" I have used your Liniments and other remedies in my prac- 
tice, for two years, and I find them indispensible to full success. 
For in no one instance, during that period, have I lost a patient, 
when your preparations were administered. During the above 
period, I have successfully treated cases of consumption, rheuma- 
tism, colic, female diseases of every type, dyspepsia, liver com- 
plaints, pleurisy, congestive fevers, bilious and typhus fevers, 
some of which, to all appearance, were near the agonies of death, 
before I saw them, and I have been uniformly successful. In one 
of the most severe cases, I found it necessary to keep the patient 
in a profuse perspiration with your remedies for four days, through 
which means the disease was conquered, and the patient reco- 
vered." 



From B. G. Key, Porter smile, Mississippi, August 6, 1837. 
" A lady, who has been under my treatment with your reme- 
dies, has nearly recovered of a confirmed consumption ; and ano- 
ther has been cured of an enlarged spleen, inflammation of the 
liver and lungs, bordering on consumption." 



368 TESTIMONIAL. 

From J. Hilton, Deerfield, N. H., July 7, 1837. 

" Your medicines equal all that has been said of them in your 
Advertiser. I know of a case of sick head-ache, of more than 
twenty years' standing, that was cured by your Head-ache Lini- 
ment in a very few minutes. Never before had the patient found 
any remedy that would afford relief. Had I leisure, I would enu- 
merate many remarkable cures." 



Case of Consumption and Fluor Albus. — C. D., a lady of 
much respectability, had been afflicted with the above complaints 
for nearly seven years ; pain in the left side and shoulder blades ; 
severe cough, expectorated daily large quantities of pus streaked 
with blood ; head-ache ; nerves much affected ; bowels irregular ; 
swelled ankles ; and continually distressed with wandering pains. 
After applying a variety of remedies without gaining any perma- 
nent benefit, she applied to us for medicine about four months ago, 
and, at this time, she appears to be entirely relieved of all her com- 
plaints ; in less than three months, her cough was cured— her sys- 
tem, generally, has become regular. We consider this case more 
extraordinary from the fact that it has required much less medi- 
cine to effect a cure than in cases generally where the patients 
have been similarly afflicted. We have noticed this, and the pre- 
ceding cases, among a vast number which we have knowledge of, 
for no other purpose than to turn the attention of those similarly 
afflicted to the means for relief, which have uniformly been suc- 
cessful where a persevering treatment has been pursued. It is 
with much difficulty we can present to the public a full statement 
of these delicate cases of affliction, and the vast number of ladies, 
of the first respectability, who have been relieved by our remedies, 
and have promulgated the fact among their neighbors. 



From Rev. A. Edwards, West Carlisle, Coshocton county, Ohio, 
February 23, 1838. 

Fits. — " I have recently cured a case of fits, with your remedies, 



DYSPEPSIA, ETC. 369 

in a case of a child four weeks old. When I first visited the child, 
it was struggling in a severe paroxysm, to all appearance, in the 
agonies of death ; I applied the Nerve Liniment to the stomach, 
abdomen, spine, and bottoms of the feet ; gave the pectoral tinc- 
ture once in fifteen or twenty minutes, according to the symptoms, 
and, in a few hours, the child was entirely relieved, and continues 
so at this time." 

Remark. — In cases of fits, we would recommend the child to 
be immersed in warm water at first, wipe dry, and then apply the 
remedies as above mentioned. 



From the same, March 16. 

Tic Douloureux. — " I was recently called to visit a young gen- 
tleman laboring under a neuralgic affection, and general prostra- 
tion ; had been treated, in the usual method, by some of the most 
skillful physicians, for several weeks, without relief — all hopes of 
recovery were given up by his medical attendants and friends. At 
this inauspicious period, I was called ; I ordered your Nerve Lini- 
ment applied liberally with warmth and friction, the Diaphoretic 
Drops taken with a cathartic. The result of this course was, that 
his pains soon subsiding, a state of convalescence ensued ; and, by 
a few applications of the Liniment, he was restored to entire health 
in a few days, and now remains a living witness of the efficacy of 
your invaluable remedies to this day. 

Dyspepsia and Liver Complaint. — " I was called to visit a 
lady, near Gambier, who had been laboring under the dyspepsia 
and liver complaint for more than a year ; a short time before, she 
had been delivered of three children at one birth, which caused a 
local uterine imbecility, with deranged menstruation and general 
debility. I prescribed for her, and, by a prompt and constant ap- 
plication of your remedies for a few weeks, she Avas relieved from 
all her complaints to the astonishment of all who saw her. 

Dyspepsia. — " David Morris, of this county, had been laboring 
under the dyspepsia, for a number of years, in its worst and most 
distressing forms ; he had despaired of ever gaining relief, as all 

47 



370 TESTIMONIAL. 

the means he had resorted to had entirely failed. A ray of hope 
beamed on his countenance after my first application of your reme- 
dies. I furnished him with your remedies usually applied in such 
cases, and, in five or six weeks, his bowels became regular, his 
food set well on his stomach, his strength was restored, and he as- 
sured me that he was able to perform as much labor as when he 
was a young man in sound health. He is a grateful living monu- 
ment of the efficacy of your remedies in dyspepsia, and he pro- 
claims abroad that almost a miracle has been wrought upon him. 
He has been the means of directing' five or six similar cases to me, 
who have all found relief by applying the same means. 

Tertian Ague, Distention of the Spleen, etc.-—" George 
Lydeck, near West Bedford, in this county, had, for a long time, 
been afflicted with the tertian ague, chronic derangement of the di- 
gestive apparatus and bowels, distention of the spleen, and general 
debility, was mostly confined to his bed for fourteen weeks ; he 
had been attended by two of the best physicians, but of no avail. 
I was called, and commenced the exhibition of your Diaphoretic 
and Alterative Drops, applying the Liniment and my cathartic 
pills. This course at once gave relief, and, by a few weeks' ap- 
plication, he has been restored to entire health. 

Severe Contusion oe the Hand.-—" A young man, near War- 
saw, had three of his fore-fingers torn nearly off in a threshing ma- 
chine — bones fractured. When I was first called, his hand had 
been dressed by a physician ; but he remained with much pain. 
I took off the splints and bandage, and found the wound approach- 
ing to mortification. I was compelled to amputate one of his fin- 
gers. I then washed the wound with the Diaphoretic Drops, and 
bound it up with the Vegetable Cerate. This course arrested the 
mortification, and, in a few days, entirely cured the wound. 

" Thus I have given you a few out of a vast number of cases 
which have come under my treatment with your remedies. I have 
no other object than to disseminate a knowledge of the fact that 
your remedies actually reach the worst forms of disease with more 
readiness, more certainty, and with less expense, than any other 
within my knowledge. 



AGUE, ETC. 371 

From Dr. J. Biles, Fort Jefferson, Ohio, March 12, 1838. 

" I am not as yet acquainted with every variety of your reme- 
dies; but your Liniments for Rheumatism, Head-ache, Bowel 
Complaint, etc.; Pile and Tetter Salves; and your Diaphoretic 
and Pectoral Tinctures, I have used in my practice for some time 
past, and I do assure you I hold them in high esteem; not an in- 
stance do I recollect of ever prescribing 1 either of the above medi- 
cines, without the most prompt and salutary effect. I would be 
glad to have forwarded a number of your Advertisers, for circula- 
tion, as it is my wish (as I have partly declined practice) to have 
a knowledge of your valuable medicine thoroughly throughout our 
section of the country, in order that their use may become general 
as a family medicine, for which purpose they are so wisely adapt- 
ed." 



From Samuel H. Saunders, Esq., Springfield, Ohio, March 
28, 1838. 

" The bottle of Head-ache Liniment I purchased of you when 
last in Columbus, for Mrs. General Bond, of London, was applied 
a few days afterwards, with her first paroxysm of nervous head- 
ache after she got it from me. I saw General Bond three months 
after, and of his own accord, his face beaming with joy, he re- 
marked to me, that i Jewetfs Liniment for Head-ache cured his 
wife of her long-continued and severe paroxysm of that disor- 
der, and at one application; because (said he) . it has never re- 
turned upon her since S " 



From Rev. E. Mc Daniel, M. D., Beardstoivn, Illinois, March 

28, 1838. 

"As to your chimical remedies, I know not how to speak their 
worth. I am better pleased with their certainty of effect, and 
promptness of action, than any of my previous acquaintance. The 
most prominent forms of disease, successfully treated under my 
observation, have been, quotidian and tertian ague, bilious inflam- 



372 TESTIMONIAL. 

matory rheumatism, lumbago, hysteritis, amenorrhea, sick head- 
ache, cholera morbus, and pleurisy — all of which have yielded 
readily to your remedies. I am happy to know that that confi- 
dence to which your remedies are entitled, is spreading far and 
wide. Such are the effects produced, that a little time will esta- 
blish them, through the far West, as a family medicine." 



From Dr. E. C. Keckeley, Charleston, S. C, April 1, 1838. 

" Your preparations, I am pleased to say, are gaining a firm 
foundation. I cannot do without them in my practice — they are 
so safe, so simple, and so certain of overcoming the diseases for 
which they are designed. I have succeeded lately in curing a 
case of paralysis in one side of the body, in an old woman, with 
three ounces of your Stimulating Liniment. I have known two 
or three cases of incipient consumption cured by a small quantity 
of your Consumption Liniment. Your Pile Salve cures every 
case. I have not failed in one instance. I cannot be more expli- 
cit — but one thing is certain, that with all that has been published, 
your remedies have not been sufficiently highly recommended." 



From Rev. A. Edwards, March 20, 1838. 

"As I promised I would give you more marked cases for publi- 
cation, I have come to the conclusion that it is my bounden duty 
to 'render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's.' 

" Scrofula.— Some time the last spring, I was called to see a 
child in this village, about five or six years old, laboring under 
scrofula. He had indolent tumors which had seriously affected 
one of the conglobate glands, near the size of a hen's egg, mova- 
ble under the skin, without pain or discoloration; the circulating 
fluids had become very much corrupted, with general cutaneous 
eruptions. Many means had been resorted to for relief, without 
benefit. When I was called, I commenced an application o the 
Stimulating Liniment over the surface of the body, and gave the 
Alterative Drops, occasionally applying the saline wash. The re- 



TYPHUS FEVER, ETC. 373 

suit was truly astonishing; for in two or three weeks the boy was 
cured, and remains well at this time, which has been nearly one 
year. 

" St. Vitus' Dance. — A young lady of this place had been 
laboring under the above complaint for a long time. Several phy- 
sicians have treated the case without success. The disease con- 
tinued to rage; her appearance was truly frightful. After I was 
called, I applied your remedies for that complaint, accompanied 
with my pills as an alterative, and gave her valerian tea, and ap- 
plied the saline bath; and in less than two months she was entire- 
ly cured, and so remains to this day, nearly a year after the cure 
was effected. 

" Typhus Syncopalis Fever. — I was called to see a girl, a 
few miles from this village, laboring under some indisposition of 
fever; and when on my last visit to her, after her convalescence, 
her brother was attacked with the above disease. It was distin- 
guished by sudden and great debility, from the first attack, which 
prostrated the system at once, without any appearance of reaction; 
extremities cold, and the skin entirely insensible to the most pow- 
erful rubefacients; a sense of fainting at the stomach; pain in the 
epigastrium and head; then vertigo, and delirium. I commenced 
the treatment by a liberal application of the Liniment and Diapho- 
retic Drops, and my pills as a cathartic. At first, I failed to pro- 
duce a perspiration, or a passage from the bowels; I then gave one 
drop of croton oil, which had the desired effect: I then ordered 
the saline bath, made strong by high-wines and vinegar, and then 
followed up with the Liniment and strong mustard poultices to the 
wrists and bottoms of the feet- — it now being nearly forty-eight 
hours from the first attack, without one hour's relief from the 
dreadful rage of delirium and obstructed perspiration. But the 
bath and Diaphoretic Drops acted powerfully in removing the de- 
lirium and producing perspiration, which seemed to relieve him of 
all his disease, except a pressure of phlegm at the stomach, which 
I endeavored to remove by the Pectoral Tincture emetic, but I 
feared he would sink under the operation ; I then applied the Li- 
niment freely to his stomach, which had the most happy effect; I 
then gave him two pills, which had the appearance of removing 
the remains of disease. His strength was so exhausted, that I 



374 TESTIMONIAL. 

gave him port wine, loaf sugar, and nutmeg, which appeared to 
strengthen him much, and in a short time he was entirely restored 
to health, as a living monument of the superiority of the chimical 
remedies and medical compounds. 

" Prolapsus Uteri. — I was recently called to treat a case of 
the above disease. It was one of the worst cases that has come 
under my' observation. The abdomen was distended, the uterus 
collapsed, and the whole system much prostrated, together with 
the most excruciating pain, attended with alarming symptoms of 
inflammation. I made the ordinary prescriptions for such diseases, 
but without effect. I then applied the saline vapor— and to the 
uterus, through the medium of the vagina, a decoction of an as- 
tringent and slightly stimulating character — and I applied to the 
intestinal canal, through the rectum, a decoction highly impreg- 
nated with the Diaphoretic Drops, and at the same time ordered 
the abdomen to be fully rubbed with the Liniment, and a large 
plaster applied to the same, and in a short time she became con- 
valescent, and a few days more restored her to good health." 



From the same. 

Hydrocardia, Dropsy of the Heart — Dropsy of the Per- 
icardium.—" I have been called to visit some four or five cases 
of the above complaint during the winter and spring, and been suc- 
cessful in every case, when timely called. In all the cases where 
there was but an inconsiderable accumulation of water in the peri- 
cardium, I have found no difficulty in overcoming it by the use of 
your remedies ; and all the most forbidding cases where I have 
succeeded, I have used, in addition to your remedies, my altera- 
tive pills ; a strong tea of valerian and the saline vapor, all with 
the happiest effects. This vapor may be produced by putting a 
small quantity of salt into alcohol, in a cup, and set on fire under 
a chair, on which sits the patient, covered with a blanket only— 
at the time of this application, the Diaphoretic Drops may be ad- 
ministered, and other warming teas. The patient will perspire 
freely, without danger of being faint. I consider this bath a pow- 



PARALYSIS, ETC. 375 

erful auxiliary to your remedies, It is simple and perfectly safe. 
It acts on the nerves as a relaxant, and on the system generally as 
a tonic." 

Remark.* — The dropsy of the heart is a collection of fluids in 
the pericardium, which may be either coagulable lymph, serum, 
or puriform fluid. It produces symptoms similar to those of hy- 
drothorax, with violent palpitations of the heart, and mostly an in- 
termittent pulse. The most skillful physicians have pronounced 
it incurable. 



From Perrine fy Gould, Mobile, Alabama, April 12, 1838. 

Rheumatism.-—" Dr. Davis speaks highly of your remedies, 
and says he could produce hundreds of testimonials of cures per- 
formed by your medicine. For ourselves, we are happy to be a 
witness to the many surprising cures performed by your Rheumat- 
ic Liniment. In fact, it is generally spoken of in terms of the 
highest praise. No doubt the other preparations will be equally 
popular when they become as well known." 



From Mrs. C. Burnside, Gambier, Ohio, May 20, 1838. 

Paralysis.-— 5 ' In August, 1835, I was attacked with a paralytic 
affection, that immediately rendered me helpless, and settled in 
the left side, from head to foot. It required three persons to lift 
me up in bed, and for three months I was entirely unable to move 
in bed without assistance. My physician mistook the complaint 
for rheumatism. After a long time, however, I mended slowly, 
and was able to walk ; but when I commenced the use of your re- 
medies, I could not lift my hand to my head, or cut my own food. 
I had not strength in my arms to break even a thread, without in- 
convenience. I was drawn down on one side quite out of shape, 
when I first *vas so fortunate as to procure a vial of your Liniment, 
the application of which soon afforded me so much relief, that I 
was enabled to make a journey to Columbus, to visit you. The 
journey, and the remedies I procured and administered, have been 
the means of restoring me to better health than I have enjoyed for 



376 TESTIMONIAL. 

years, as I have for a long time been afflicted with a complication 
of diseases. I am now fifty -five years of age, rejoicing in the bles- 
sings of comfortable health, for which I am indebted, under a kind 
Providence, to the application of your remedies." 



From- Lawrence Wade, Jefferson county, Mississippi, June 17, 

1833. 

Diarrhea, etc. etc. — " To promote the sum of human happi- 
ness, and to relieve the afflicted, by all the means in our power, is 
a duty incumbent upon every good citizen, and constitutes my 
only object in giving 3^011 a relation of the following facts for pub- 
lication, in such a manner as you may deem best calculated to pro- 
mote the desired object. 

"On or about the last of February, 1837, one of my sons, a 
child now three years of age, was attacked with whooping cough, 
with which it suffered severely for about six weeks, when it was 
violently affected with the bowel complaint, which continued un- 
til September last, under all the various types and forms of that 
disease ; and which had reduced it to a mere skeleton. During 
that time I had several physicians of acknowledged skill to attend 
the child, all of whom pronounced it past the power of medicine 
even to relieve, much less to cure. They all agreed that the lungs 
of the child had become diseased with what they termed pneumo- 
monia,-or inflammation of those organs. I am satisfied that they 
were right as to the nature of the disease, but to describe fully its 
hopeless situation and sufferings, is totally beyond my powers to 
do with a pen ; suffice to say, that the child was conveyed in a 
carriage, (but with the greatest difficulty,) twelve miles, to Mr. 
Darden's house, and where, by the solicitation of Mrs. Darden, a 
trial was to be made by Dr. B. G. Key, with your Liniments, 
Pectoral Tincture, etc. The child suffered from the effects of ca- 
lomel by salivation also, and it was the opinion of most persons, 
and expressed by one of its physicians, that it never could be re- 
turned home alive. For myself, I had no expectation of its reco- 
very, and suffered an application of the Liniments only to gratify 
others ; for I confess, my feelings were very much opposed to 
what I then considered an experiment. 



DIARRHEA, ETC. 377 

" I have only to say that no other medicine but your prepara- 
tions were made use of, and that, to my great surprise, as well as 
inexpressible gratification, the child is restored to perfect health 
and soundness ; its flesh has come upon it, in very deed, ' like a 
child's,' and in all respects appears as though it never had been 
sick. It will be recollected also, that it was in September last, 
the very season of the year when disease is very fatal in this 
country, that Dr. Key commenced, in the foregoing case, the use 
of your Liniments. The Stimulating Liniment was rubbed over 
the whole body and limbs, and a buckskin plaster of the same, in 
form of a vest, covering the whole chest, constantly worn ; once 
in two days washing off clean with soap and water, wiping dry, 
then applying the salt bath, and immediately applying the big plas- 
ter again, well covered with Liniment. The child was first vomit- 
ed with Pectoral Tincture, which caused it to throw immense 
quantities of phlegm from the stomach, and afterwards the use of 
the Pectoral, combined with the Diaphoretic Drops, was continued, 
by giving every two hours, of the mixture, from six to ten drops, 
diluted in water ; and at times, when required to vomit, which 
was not often, from fifteen to twenty drops of the Pectoral Tinc- 
ture, diluted in water ; and lastly, the Vegetable Syrup was given 
freely." 



From J. A. Fair child, near Raymond, Hinds county, Missis- 
sippi, June 21, 1838. 

Diarrhea and Fever. — " Sir: In the month of June, 1835, I 
first became satisfied of the power possessed by your medicines 
for the removal of disease. Two of my black men, at that 
time, were very sick ; one of them was so reduced by diarrhea, 
which had baffled every effort of skill or medicine to relieve for 
six weeks, that I had given up all expectation of his recovery— -he 
was, in truth, a hapless being ; could neither stand or walk, and 
his digestive organs were so impaired, and his whole system so 
deranged, that even the most simple gruels or soups of any kind, 
taken into the stomach, would pass his bowels, in a few minutes, 
in nearly its original state. He then got past taking food or me- 
dicine of any kind, internally, and his voice had sunk so low (as 
48 



37S TESTIMONIAL. 

in a case of cholera) as scarcely to be heard. As a last resort, 
and surely with but little hopes, I applied your Stimulating Lini- 
ment over the whole surface of the body, and continued rubbing it 
in for two hours ; his discharges stopped upon him as soon as I 
had got it applied over the whole chest, and he immediately gain- 
ed strength. The same application was made the next day, when 
he was able to walk, and, in three days, he was so far recovered 
as to commence labor moderately of his own accord, and with a 
good appetite for any kind of food ; and he has remained in good 
health ever since. 

" The other man was confined with a very high fever : his pains 
in the back and head were most excruciating. I applied the Sti- 
mulating Liniment over the whole body, (for I could not obtain 
any of the Fever Liniment,) and, in the course of two hours, he 
was free from all pain, and in a full perspiration ; he got well im- 
mediately. 

" In neither of the foregoing cases was any other medicine made 
use of after commencing with the Liniment, nor was there any 
given internally. 

" To state all the cases cured by your remedies, within my 
knowledge, even of diseases of the most dangerous kind, would 
require so lengthy a communication as to be tedious to your read- 
ers. Suffice, therefore, to say that, since the use of your Lini- 
ment in 1835, my own family, white and black, has numbered 
about eighty persons of all ages, and there has not been a single 
death among them all, except only one black woman, who died in 
child birth. 

" You will please make use of this letter in such way and man- 
ner as you may deem best calculated to convey the knowledge of 
your most useful medicines to the whole human family, if possible." 



From Dr. William Armstrong, Philadelphia, April 25, 1838. 

Insanity. — " I have just received a small lot of your medicine, 
and, so far as I have tested them, they fully answer my expecta- 
tions. Some of my most severe cases of chronic complaints are 
mending under their influence. From what I have already dis- 
covered, I am confident your remedies will soon go into general 



INSANITY, ETC. 379 

use in this city. Your Head-ache Liniment far exceeds any re- 
medy I ever knew. There are cases here that have been cured 
immediately. I have been using your remedies on a maniac taken 
from the Lunatic Asylum and brought to my house. We kept 
her one week, and she appeared much better ; but she was so 
troublesome I could not keep her longer. The medicines are to 
be continued on her after she returns to the Asylum." 



From the same, May 14, 1838. 

" I can do more business with your remedies, and approach the 
bed-side of the sick with more confidence, than I ever did before 
I became acquainted with them. I consider your medicine to be 
a great blessing to mankind, and my confidence grows stronger as 
every case confirms me of the virtues and powers it possesses in 
the sudden removal of disease. It has been repeatedly asked why 
there were no great cases, as published in the Advertiser, in this 
city— the cases being so far off, they cannot see the individual 
who was cured, or they would try the medicine. Now, to obvi- 
ate this difficulty, I will give you a living witness in Philadelphia 
that cannot be doubted ; if it should, with the strong proof I have 
in my possession, they will doubt though one should rise from the 
dead : Mr. G. T. was laboring under a severe and low typhus 
fever— not expected to live from one hour to another ; and, with 
this, an inflammation in the liver, great pain and prostration, and 
a cough which greatly distressed him. Such was the situation of 
this gentleman. We utterly despaired of his life. His wife, 
who waited on him as an attentive woman should do in such dis- 
tressing cases, has the satisfaction of seeing him restored to entire 
health by a persevering use of your remedies. I gave no other 
medicine ; but applied your Liniments faithfully over most of the 
body until a reaction took place. I shall never forget the gentle- 
man's remark when applying it, as the relief was so instantaneous ; 
when applying it over the region of the liver, he observed it acted 
like a charm. At one time, when perfectly delirious, we bathed 
his feet in a strong solution of salt and water, and then the Lini- 
ment, and, in a short time, equilibrium took place ; he soon gained 



3S0 TESTIMONIAL. 

his right mind, and became convalescent, and is now in health 
again. 

"Another case of much interest came under my observation: a 
lady who called on me to prescribe for her in case of a wen, so 
called by some very learned medical gentlemen who were then in 
attendance on her. The physician advised a flax-seed poultice to 
cause suppuration. It was finally determined that it was not a 
wen, but a white swelling. She was attended, by three gentle- 
men, three years, and, with your remedies, I cured her in three 
weeks ; and she now lives — yes, she lives, as a monument of an 
almost miraculous cure, to be seen by the gentlemen and ladies of 
this city. 

" I have recently cured a most distressing case of inflammatory 
rheumatism by your remedies. 

" The maniac staid with us one week only — she was much bet- 
ter, and continued so while using your medicine ; but, after she 
returned to the Asylum, she would not take any of the medi- 
cine, nor suffer any of the Liniment to be applied, assigning as a 
reason, ' My doctor is not here.' We expect to have her back 
again soon. The higher classes of society in this city, who have 
used your remedies, approve of them as preferable to any and all 
others, and you may be assured that, with them, they will gene- 
rally find favor." 



From the same, May 26. 

" The maniac has returned, and is with me, and is evidently bet- 
ter. If I cure her, it will be the greatest miracle ever performed 
in this or any other country. Her case is a very noted one. I 
took her from the Friends' Lunatic Asylum, a famous place for 
lunatics, about six miles from Philadelphia." 



From the same, July 3. 

"I have asked for no testimonials in the cases which have been 
cured by your remedies— an abundance can be found at any time. 
I can, as before, state that I view them as excellent. Rheumatism, 



INSANITY. 381 

head-ache, dyspepsia, fever, swellings, etc., are easily overcome 
by them. 

"In the case of the maniac, I have entirely depended on your 
remedies, and, to my utter astonishment, she is nearly herself 
again. Yes, strange as is the fact, she is now visiting her friends 
in the city ; she appears perfectly rational, and is visiting at her 
sister's, blending in society, and taking an interest in the common 
avocation of friends." 

ICT 3 Since our letter of July 3, we have a communication from 
Dr. Armstrong, with the assurance that the maniac is entirely re- 
stored to her health and to her right reason, and that she is now 
enjoying the society of her friends in Philadelphia. 



PART XXI. 

PHYSIOLOGICAL 



MECHANISM OF THE HUMAN SKELETON. 

There is scarcely a part of the animal body, or an action which 
it performs, or an incident that can befal it, or a piece of profes- 
sional assistance which can be given to it, that does not furnish 
illustration of some truth of natural philosophy ; but we shall 
here only touch upon as many particulars as will make the un- 
derstanding of others easy. 

The cranium or skull, is an instance of the arched form, an- 
swering the purposes of giving strength. The brain, in its na- 
ture, is so tender, or susceptible of injury, that slight local press- 
ure disturbs its action. Hence, a solid covering, like the skull, 
was required, with those parts made stronger and thicker, which 
are most exposed to injury. An architectural dome is constructed 
to resist one kind of force only, always acting in one direction, 
namely, gravity ; and therefore its strength increases regularly to- 
wards the bottom, when the weight and horizontal thrust of the 
whole are to be resisted ; but the tenacity of the substance is many 
times more than sufficient to resist gravity, and therefore aids the 
form to resist forces of other kinds, operating in all directions. 
When we reflect on the strength displayed by the arched film of 
an egg shell, we need not wonder at the severity of blows the 
cranium can withstand. 



384 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

Through early childhood, the cranium remains, to a certain 
degree, yielding and elastic ; and the falls and blows so frequent 
during the lessons of walking, etc., are borne with impunity. The 
mature skull consists of two layers, or tables, with a soft diploe 
between them ; the outer table being very tough, with its parts 
dovetailed into each, as tough wood would be by human artificers, 
while the inner table is harder, and more brittle, (hence called 
vitreous,) with its edges merely lying in contact, because its brit- 
tleness would render dovetailing useless. A very severe partial 
blow on the skull, generally fractures and depresses the part, as a 
pistol bullet would ; while one less severe, but with more extend- 
ed contact, being slowly resisted by the arched form, often injures 
the skull, by what is correspondent to the horizontal thrust, in a 
bridge, and causes a crack at a distance from the place struck, 
generally half way round to the opposite side. Sometimes in a 
fall, with the head foremost, the skull would escape injury, but 
for the body, which falls on it, pressing the end of the spine 
against its base. 

In the lower jaw, we have to remark the greater mechanical 
advantage, or lever power, with which the muscles act, than in 
most other parts of animals. The temporal and masseter muscles, 
pull almost directly at right angles to the line of the jaw, while in 
most other cases, as in that of the deltoid muscle lifting the arm, 
the muscles act very obliquely, and with power diminished in 
proportion to the obliquity. An object placed between the back 
teeth, is compressed with the whole direct power of the strong 
muscles of the jaw : hence the human jaw can crush a body which 
offers great resistance ; and the jaws of the lion, tiger, shark, 
crocadile, etc., are stronger still. The teeth rank high among 
those parts of the animal body, which appear almost as if they 
were severally the fruits of distinct miraculous agencies, so diffi- 
cult is it to suppose a few simple laws of life, capable of producing 
the variety of form so beautifully adapted to purposes which they 
exhibit. They constitute an extraordinary set of chissels and 
wedges, so arranged as to be most efficient for cutting and tearing 
the food, and, with their exterior enamel, so hard, that, in early 
states of society, teeth were made to answer many purposes, for 
which steel is now used. It seems, however, as if the laws of 



MECHANISM OF THE HUMAN SKELETON. 385 

life, astonishing as they are, had still been inadequate to cause 
teeth, cased in their hard enamel, to grow as the softer bones grow; 
and hence has arisen a provision more extraordinary still. A set 
of small teeth appear soon after birth, and serve the child, until 
six or seven years of age : these then fall out, and are replaced 
by larger ones, which endure for life ; the number being complet- 
ed only when the man or woman is full grown, by four teeth, 
called wisdom teeth, because they come so late, which rise to 
fill up the then spacious jaw. 

The spine, or back bone, has in its structure, as much of beau- 
tiful and varied mechanism, as any single part of our wonderful 
frame. It is the central pillar of support, or great connecting 
chain of all the other parts ; and it has, at the same time, the of- 
fice of containing within itself, and of protecting from external 
injury, a prolongation of the brain, called the spinal marrow, 
more important to animal life, than the greater part of the brain 
itself. We shall see the spine uniting the apparent incompatabili- 
ties of great elasticity, great flexibility in all directions, and great 
strength, both to support a load, and to defend its important con- 
tents. 

Elasticity.— The head may be said to rest on the elastic co- 
lumn of the spine, as the body of a carriage rests upon its springs. 
Between each two of the twenty-four vertebras, or distinct bones, 
of which the spine consists, there is a soft elastic intervertebral 
substance, about half as bulky as a vertebra, yielding readily to 
any sudden jar; and the spine, moreover, is waved, or bent a lit- 
tle, like an italic /, as seen when it is viewed sideways ; and for 
this reason also, it yields to any sudden pressure, operating from 
either end. The bending might seem a defect in a column intend- 
ed to support weight ; but the disposition of the muscles around 
is such, as to leave all the elasticity of the bend, and a roomy tho- 
rax, without any diminution of strength. 

Flexibility. — The spine may be compared to a chain, because 
it consists of twenty-four distinct pieces, joined by smooth rub- 
bing surfaces, so as to allow of motion in all directions ; and a 
little motion, comparatively, between each two adjoining pieces, 
becomes a great extent of motion in the whole line. The articu- 
49 



386 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

lating surfaces are so many, and so exactly fitted to each other, 
and are connected by such number and strength of ligaments, that 
the combination of pieces is really a stronger column, than a sin- 
gle bone of the same size would be. The strength of the spine, 
as a whole, as shown in a man's easily carrying upon his head, a 
weight heavier than himself, while each separate vertebra is a 
strong irregular ring, or double arch, surrounding the spinal mar- 
row. The spine increases in size towards the bottom, in the 
justest proportion, as it has the more weight to bear. 

The ribs. — Attached to twelve vertebrae, in the middle of the 
back, are the ribs, or bony stretchers of the cavity of the chest, con- 
stituting a structure which solves, in the most perfect manner, the 
difficult mechanical problem of making a cavity, with solid exte- 
rior, which shall yet be capable of dilating and contracting itself. 
Each pair of corresponding ribs may be considered as forming a 
hoop, which hangs obliquely down from the place of attachment 
behind ; and so that, when the forepart of all the hoop is lifted by 
the muscles, the cavity of the chest is enlarged. 

We have to remark the double connection of the rib behind, 
first to the bodies of two adjoining vertebrae, and then to a process 
or projection from the lower, thus effecting & very steady joint, 
and yet leaving the necessary freedom of motion ; and we see the 
forepart of the rib to be of flexible cartilage, which allows the 
degree of motion required there, without the complexity of a joint, 
and admirably guards, by its elasticity, against the effect of sud- 
den blows or shocks. The muscles, which have their origin on 
the ribs, and their insertion into the bones of the arm, afford us an 
example of action and reaction, being equal and contrary. When 
the ribs are fixed, these muscles move the arm ; and when the arm 
is fixed, by resting on a chair, or other object, they move the ribs. 
This is seen in fits of asthma and dyspnoea. 

The shoulder-joint is remarkable for combining great extent of 
motion with great strength. The round head of the shoulder-bone 
rests upon a shallow cavity in the shoulder-blade, that it may turn 
in always ; and the danger of dislocation from this shallowness is 
guarded against by two strong, bony projections, above and be- 
hind. To increase the range of motion to the greatest possible 
degree, the bone called the shoulder-blade, which contains the 



MECHANISM OF THE HUMAN SKELETON. 3S7 

socket of the arm, slides about itself upon the convex exterior of 
thejchest, having its motion limited only by a connection through 
the collar-bone, or clavicle, with the sternum. The scapula, or 
blade-bone, is extraordinary, as an illustration of the mechanical 
rules for combining lightness with strength. It has the strength 
of the arch, from being a little concave, and its substance is chiefly 
collected in its borders and spines, with thin plates between, as 
the strength of a wheel is collected in its rim and spokes, and 
nave. The bones of the arm, considered as levers, have the mus- 
cles which move them, attached very near to the fulcra, and very 
obliquely ; so that, from working through a short distance, com- 
paratively, with the resistance overcome at the extremities, the 
muscles require to be of great strength. It has been calculated, 
that the muscles of the shoulder-joint, in the exertion of lifting a 
man upon the hand, pull with a force of two thousand pounds. 
The os humeri, or bone of the upper arm, is not perfectly cylin- 
drical ; but, like most of the other bones which are called cylin- 
drical, it has ridges to give strength. 

The elbow-joint is a correct hinge, and so strongly secured, 
that it is rarely dislocated without fracture. The fore-arm consists 
of two bones, with a strong membrane between them. Its great 
breadth, from this structure, affords abundant space for the origin 
of the many muscles that go to move the hand and fingers ; and 
the very peculiar mode of connection of the two bones, give man 
that most useful faculty of turning the hand round, into what are 
called the positions of pronation and supination, exemplified in 
the action of twisting, or of turning a gimblet. 

The wrist. — The many small bones forming this, have a sig- 
nal effect of deadening, in regard to the parts above, the shocks or 
blows which the hand receives. The annular ligament is a strong 
band, passing round the joints, and keeping all the tendons which 
pass from the muscles above to the fingers, close to the joint. It 
answers the purpose of so many fixed pulleys, for directing the 
tendons : without it they would all, on action, start out like bow- 
strings, producing deformity and weakness. The human hand is so 
admirable, from its numerous mechanical and sensitive capabilities, 
that an opinion at one time commonly prevailed, that man's superior 



388 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

reason depended on his possessing such an instructor and such a 
servant. Now, although reason, with hoofs instead of ringers, could 
never have raised man much above the brutes, and probably could 
not have secured the continued existence of the species, still the 
hand is no more than a fit instrument of the god-like mind which 
directs it. 

The pelvis, or strong, irregular ring of bone, on the upper edge 
of which the spine rests, and from the sides of which the legs 
spring, forms the center of the skeleton. A broad bone was want- 
ed here, to connect the central column of the spine with the late- 
ral column of the legs; and a circle was the lightest and "Strongest. 
If we attempt, still further, to conceive how the circle could be 
modified to fit it for the spine to rest on, for the thighs to roll in, 
for muscles to hold by, (both above and below,) for the person to 
sit on — we shall find, on inspection, that all our anticipations are 
realized in the most perfect manner. In the pelvis, too, we have 
the thyroid hole and ischiatic notches, furnishing subordinate in- 
stances of contrivance to save material and weight: they are mere- 
ly deficiencies cf bone, where solidity could not have given addi- 
tional strength. The broad ring of the pelvis protects most se- 
curely the important organs placed within it. 

The hip-joint exhibits the perfection of the ball and socket ar- 
ticulation. It allows the foot to move round in a circle, as well as 
to have the great range of backward and forward motion exhibited 
in the action of walking. When we see the elastic, tough, smooth 
cartilage, which lines the deep socket of this joint, and the simi- 
lar glistening covering of the ball or head of the thigh bone, and 
the lubricating synovia poured into the cavity by appropriate se- 
cretaries, and the strong ligaments giving strength all around, we 
feel how far the most perfect of man's works fall short of the me- 
chanism displayed by nature. 

The thigh-bone is remarkable for its projections, called tro- 
chanters, to which the moving muscles are fixed, and which length- 
en considerably the lever by which the muscles work. The shaft 
of the bone is not straight, but has a considerable forward curva- 
ture. Short-sightedness might suppose this a weakness, because 
the bone is a pillar supporting a weight ; but the bend gives it, in 



MECHANISM OF THE HUMAN SKELETON. 38.0 

reality, the strength of the arch, to bear the action of the mass of 
muscle called vastus, which lies and swells upon its fore-part. 

The knee is a hinge-joint of complicated structure, and it claims 
the most attentive study of the surgeon. The rubbing parts are 
flat and shallow, and therefore the joint has little strength from 
form ; but it derives security from the numerous and singularly 
strong' ligaments which surround it. The ligaments on the inside 
of the knees, resemble, in two circumstacces, the angular liga- 
ments of joints— -namely, in having a constant and great strain to 
bear, and yet in becoming stronger always as the strain increases. 
The line of the leg, even in the most perfect shape, bends inward 
a little at the knee, requiring the support of the ligaments ; and, 
in many persons, it bends very much; but the inclination does not 
increase with age. The legs of many weakly in-kneed children, 
become straight by exercise alone. This inclination at the middle 
joint of the leg, by throwing a certain strain on the ligaments, 
gives an increase of elasticity to the limb, in the actions of jump- 
ing, running, etc. In the knee, there is a singular provision of 
loose cartilages, which have been called friction-cartilages, from a 
supposed relation in use to friction- wheels ; but their real effect 
seems to be to accommodate, in the different positions of the joint, 
the surfaces of the rubbing bones to each other. The great mus- 
cles on the forepart of the thigh, are contracted into a tendon, a 
little above the knee, and have to pass over, and in front of the 
knee, to reach the top of the leg, where their attachment is. The 
tendon, in passing over the joint, becomes bony, and forms the 
patella, or knee-pan, often called the pulley of the knee. This 
peculiarity enables the muscles to act more advantageously, by in- 
creasing the distance of the scope from the center of motion. The 
patella is, moreover, a sort of shield, or protection to the forepart 
of this important joint. 

The leg below the knee, like the fore-arm already described, 
has two bones. They offer spacious surface of origin for the nu- 
merous muscles required for the feet; and they form a compound 
pillar of greater strength, than the same quantity of bone as one 
aft would have had. The individual bones, also, are angular, 
stead of round— hence deriving greater power to resist blows, 



390 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

The ankle-joint is a perfect hinge, of great strength. There 
is in front of it an annular ligament, by which the greater part of 
the tendons, passing downwards to the foot and toes, are kept in 
their places. One of these tendons passes under the bony projec- 
tion of the inner ankle, in a smooth appropriate groove, exactly as 
if a little fixed pulley were there. 

The heel, by projecting so far backwards, is a lever for the 
strong muscles to act by, which form the calf of the leg, and ter- 
minate in the tendo-achillis. These muscles, by drawing at it, lift 
the body, in the actions of standing on the toes, walking, dancing, 
etc. In the foot of the negro, the heel is so long as to be ugly, in 
European estimation ; and its great length rendering the effort of 
smaller muscles sufficient for the various purposes, the calf of the 
leg in the negro is smaller, in proportion, than in other races of 
men. 

The arch of the foot is to be noticed as another of the many 
provisions for saving the body from shocks, by the elasticity of 
the supports. The heels and the balls of the toes are the two ex- 
tremities of the elastic arch, and the leg rests between them. Con- 
nected with elasticity, it is interesting to remark how imperfectly 
a wooden leg answers the purpose of a natural leg. With the 
wooden leg, which always remains of the same length, the center 
of the body must describe, at each step, a portion of a circle, of 
which the bottom knob of the leg is the center, and the body is 
therefore constantly rising and falling; while, with the natural 
legs, which, by gentle flexure at the knee, are made shorter or 
longer, in different parts of the step, as required, the body is car- 
ried along in a manner perfectly level. In like manner, a man 
riding on horseback, if he keep his back upright and stiff, is jolted 
by every step of the trotting animal ; but the experienced horse- 
man, even without rising in the stirrups, by letting the back yield 
a little at each movement, as a bent spring yields during the motion 
of a carriage, can carry his head quite smoothly along. 

In. a general review of the skeleton, we have to remark, 
1. The nice adaptation of all the parts to each other, and to the 
strains which they have respectively to bear ; as in the size of the 



MECHANISM OF THE HUMAN SKELETON. 391 

spinal vertebra, increasing from above downwards, the bones of 
the leg being larger than those of the arm, and so on. 

2. The objects of strength and lightness combined, as by the 
hollowness of the long bones ; their angular form, their thicken- 
ing and flexures in particular places where great strain has to be 
borne ; the enlargement of the extremities to which the muscles 
are attached, lengthening the lever by which these act. 

3. We have to remark the nature and strength of material in 
different parts, so admirably adapted to the purposes which the 
parts serve. There is a bone, for instance, in one place, nearly as 
hard as iron, where, covered with enamel, it has the form of teeth, 
with the office of chewing and tearing all kinds of matter used as 
food. In the cranium, again, bone is softer, but tough and resist- 
ing ; in the middle of long bones, it is compact and little bulky, to 
leave room for the swelling of the muscles lying there ; while, at 
either end, it is large and spongy, with the same quantity of mat- 
ter, to give a broad surface for articulation ; and, in the spine, the 
bodies of the vertebra, which rest on an elastic bed of intevertebral 
substance, are light and spongy, while their articulating surfaces 
and processes are very hard. In the joints, we see the tough, 
elastic, smooth substance, called cartilage, covering the ends of the 
bones, defending and padding them, and destroying friction. In 
infants, we find all the bones soft or gristly, and therefore calcu- 
lated to bear, with impunity, the falls and blows unavoidable at 
their age ; and we see certain parts remaining cartilage or gristle 
for life, where their elasticity is necessary or useful, as at the an- 
terior extremities of the ribs. About the joints, we have to re- 
mark the ligaments, which bind the bones together, possessing a 
tenacity, scarcely equalled in any other known substance ; and 
we see that the muscular fibres, whose contractions move the 
bones, and thereby the body — because they would have made the 
limbs clumsy, even to deformity, had they all passed over the 
joints, to the parts which they have to pull — attach themselves, at 
convenient distances, to a strong cord called a tendon, by means 
of which, like a hundred sailors at a rope, they make their effort 
effective at any distance. The tendons are remarkable for the 
great strength which resides in their slender forms, and for the lu- 
bricated smoothness of their surfaces. Many other striking parti- 
culars might be enumerated ; but these may suffice. Such, then, 



392 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

is the skeleton, or general frame-work of the human body ; less 
curious and complicated, perhaps, than some other parts of the 
system, but so perfect and so wonderful, that the mind which can 
attentively consider it without emotion, is in a state not to be en- 
vied. The living force of man has been used as a working power 
in various ways, as in turning a winch, pulling at a rope, walking 
in the inside of a large wheel to move it, as a squirrel or turn-spit 
dog moves his little wheel, etc. Each of these has some particu- 
lar advantage ; but that made in which, for many purposes, the 
greatest effect may be produced, is for the man to carry up to a 
hight his body only, and then to let it work by its weight in de- 
scending. A bricklayer's laborer would be able to lift twice as 
many bricks to the top of a house, in the course of a day, by as- 
cending a ladder without a load, and raising bricks of nearly his 
own weight, over a pully each time in descending, as he can by 
carrying bricks and himself up together, and descending again 
without a load, as is still usually done. Reflection would natu- 
rally anticipate the above result, independently of experiment ; for 
the load which a man should be best able to carry, is surely from 
which he can never free himself—the load of his own body. 

Accordingly, the strength of muscles and disposition of parts, 
are all such as to make his body appear light to him. The ques- 
tion which was agitated with such warmth sometime ago, as to the 
propriety of making men and women work on the tread-mill, re- 
ceives an easy decision here. They work by climbing on the out- 
side of a large wheel or cylinder, which is turned by their weight, 
and on which they must advance just as fast as it turns, to avoid 
falling from their proper situation. There are projections or steps 
for the feet on the outside of the cylinder, and the action to the 
workers is exactly that of ascending an aclivity. Now, as nature 
has fitted the human body for^climbing hills, as well as for walking 
on plains, the work of the tread-mill, under proper restrictions as 
to duration, must be as natural and healthful as any other. Its 
effects have now proved it to be so. As animal power is exhaust- 
ed exactly in proportion to the time during which it is acting, as 
well as in proportion to the intensity of force exerted, there may 
often be a great saving of it by doing work quickly, although with 
a little more exertion during the time. Suppose two men of equal 
weight to ascend the same stairs, one of whom takes only a min- 



MECHANISM OF THE HUMAN SKELETON. 393 

ute to reach the top, and the other takes four minutes ; it will cost 
the first but a little more than a fourth part of the fatigue which it 
cost the second, because the exhaustion has relation to the time 
during which the muscles are acting. The quick mover may 
have exerted, perhaps, one twentieth more force in the first in- 
stant, to give his body greater velocity, which was afterwards 
continued : but the sloth supported his load four times as long. 

A healthy man will run rapidly up a long stair, and his breath- 
ing will scarcely be quickened at the top ; but if he walk up slow- 
ly, his legs will feel fatigued, and he will have to wait sometime, 
before he can speak calmly. For this same reason, coach-horses 
are much spared by being made to gallop up a short hill, and be- 
ing then allowed to go more slowly for a little time, so as to rest 
at the top. The rapid waste of muscular strength, which arises 
from continued action, is shown, by keeping the arm extended 
horizontally for some time ; few can continue the exertion beyond 
a minute or two. In animals which have long horizontal necks, 
there are provisions of* nature in a strong elastic substance on the 
back or upper part of the neck, which nearly supports the head, 
independently of muscular exertion. 



50 



394 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 



HEART. 



A hollow, muscular organ, the function of which is to maintain 
the circulation of the blood, and which is of different formations 
in different animals. 

The organs of circulation are the heart, the arteries, the veins, 
and the capillary vessels. The blood is divided into the arterial 
blood and the venous blood. The object of the circulation is to 
carry the venous blood, which has returned from the body, into 
the lungs, where, by the influence of the air, it is converted into 
arterial blood, which is then again sent out into the system to nou- 
rish it and repair its losses. The heart in men, quadrupeds, and 
birds, is composed of four cavities, two auricles, and two ventricles, 
(thence called double.) It is enveloped in a membrane called the 
pericardium, situated toward the left of the cavity of the chest, be- 
tween the lungs, and resting on the diaphragm. Its form is that 
of a cone flattened on its inferior and superior faces, the latter 
formed principally by the right, the former by the left, auricle 
and ventricle. The right auricle communicates with the right 
ventricle, besides which there are in it three openings : that of the 
vena cava inferior; that of the vena cava superior ; and that of 
the coronary vein. The communication between this auricle and 
ventricle is closed by a valve when the heart contracts ; the right 
or pulmonary ventricle communicates with the pulmonary artery, 
which is provided with three valves. When these valves are 
brought together, they interrupt the communications between the 
ventricles and the artery. The left auricle communicates with the 
left ventricle, and contains, also, the orifices of the four pulmonary 
veins. The left ventricle, besides the communication with the 
left auricle, contains the orifice of the aorta. The ventricles are 
divided from each other by a fleshy wall, called the septum cordis. 
The valves, at the opening of the arteries, are called semi-lunar ; 
that at the orifice of the right auricle, tricuspid; that at the orifice 
of the left auricle, mitral; and that at the orifice of the vena cava 
inferior, the eustachian valve. 

The heart is formed of a firm, thick, muscular tissue, composed 
of fibers interlacing with each other. It is also composed of nerves, 
membranes, and vessels. The coronary arteries arise from the 
aorta, and are distributed on the heart. The coronary veins re- 



HEART. 395 

turn the blood of the heart into the right auricle. The arteries are 
the vessels which serve to carry the blood from the heart to all 
parts of the body ; they terminate in the capillary vessels, a series 
of extremely minute vessels, which pass over into the veins. 
The veins are the channels by which the blood passes back from 
the body into the auricles of the heart. The blood which is re- 
turned from the veins is black, and is called venous ; that which 
leaves the heart is red, and is called arterial. The red blood, po- 
sessing nourishing and vital properties, rises in the capillary sys- 
tem of the lungs, flows into the pulmonary veins, thence is recei- 
ved into the left cavities of the heart, from which it passes into 
the aorta, and is transmitted to all parts of the body, to the capil- 
lary system. It there loses two degrees of temperature, and un- 
dergoes other changes, by the loss of some of its elements, in the 
important functions of nutriment, calorification, and the secretions. 
It has now become black, passes through the veins, from the extre- 
mity of the body, towards the heart, receives the chyle and the 
lymph, and is emptied into the right cavities of that organ which 
returns it through the pulmonary artery to the capillary vessels of 
the lungs, where it is subjected to the influence of the air, resumes 
the qualities of red or arterial blood, and is ready for a new course. 
Having thus described the rout of the blood through the different 
parts of the system, we will now explain the mechanism of the 
sanguineous system. The blood contained in the two venae cavse 
is poured into the right auricle, which contracts, and thus forces 
the fluid to escape ; but the vena cava superior opposes to its pas- 
sage the column of blood which it contains ; the other veins are 
closed by valves, and it must, therefore, pass into the right ven- 
tricle. The ventricle then contracts, and the tricuspid valve clo- 
sing the passage through which the liquid entered, it is forced for- 
ward into the pulmonary artery, which contracts, and its orifice 
being closed by the semi-lunar valve, propels the blood still for- 
ward into the capillary system of the lungs, whence it passes into 
the pulmonary veins, which pour it into the left auricle by their 
four orifices. The contraction of the auricle impels it into the 
left ventricle, by which it is, in the same manner, driven forward 
into the aorta, (the mitral valve preventing its return into the au- 
ricle,) and thence into the general circulation, as above described. 
The two auricles contract and dilate simultaneously with each 



396 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

other, as do also the two ventricles. The dilatation is called dias- 
tole; the contraction, systole. It is difficult to determine what 
quantity of blood the heart projects at each systole. It is general- 
ly estimated at two ounces. 

The causes of the alternate contraction and dilatation of the 
heart are not less difficult to decide. They are entirely involun- 
tary and dependent on the nervous system. The force of its con- 
traction is likewise unknown. The systole of the ventricles is 
the cause of the motion of the blood in the arteries, which also 
dilate with each wave driven into them by the motion of the heart. 
By what means the blood is made to penetrate the thousand wind- 
ings of the capillary system, and what causes impel it to flow back 
through the veins, are yet subjects of dispute among physiologists. 
The time in which a drop of blood completes its circle of motion, 
has been differently estimated at from two minutes to twenty-four 
hours. 

Among the lower orders of animals, the organization of the cu> 
culating system is very different. The infusoria, polypi, and in- 
testinal worms, have no distinct vessels, much less a heart. The 
echinodermata have distinct organs of circulation, but no part re- 
sembling a heart. Insects have a small cylindrical vessel running 
along the back, which is rather the rudiment of a vascular system 
than of a heart. The first traces of a heart are found in some 
worms in which some expansions are perceptible in a part of the 
vessel which runs the whole length of the body. In the spider, 
lateral vessels are given off from the main vessel, and a pulsation 
is perceptible. The Crustacea have a heart composed of one fleshy 
ventricle. In the mollusca, the heart appears completely formed : 
some of them have three cavities. The four classes of vertebral 
animals have red blood ; but fishes and reptiles have only what is 
called a single heart, that is composed of one auricle and one 
ventricle. 



LUNGS. 

The organs of respiration in the mammalia, (man, quadrupeds, 
and the cetaceous animals,) birds and reptiles. The lungs are 



LUNGS. 397 

situated within the chest, and are divided into two parts, called 
lobes. They are enveloped in a delicate and transparent mem- 
brane, derived from the pleura, through which they have the ap- 
pearance of network, and are connected with the spine by the 
pleura, with the neck by the windpipe, and with the heart by the 
roots of the pulmonary artery and veins. In their specific gravity, 
they are the lightest of all the animal organs, even when exhaust- 
ed of air ; hence their name of lights. To the touch they are 
soft, spongy and elastic. In their internal structure, they are 
composed of an infinite number of membraneous celled blood- 
vessels, nerves and lymphatics, all connected by cellular substance; 
small tubes arise from them, which are finally united into one 
large tube from each lobe, and these two at length join to form the 
windpipe. 

The blood-vessels, called the pulmonary vessels, are destined 
to distribute the blood through the cells, for the purpose of sub- 
jecting it to the action of the air; while the bronchial vessels are 
intended to supply the blood which nourishes the lungs. The ce- 
tacea whales and seals breathe by lungs, and are therefore obliged 
to ascend, at intervals, to the surface of the water, to obtain a sup- 
ply of atmospheric air. The respiratory orifice, in these animals, 
is not situated at the extremity of the snout, but on the top of the 
head. In birds, the lungs are smaller than in quadrupeds ; but 
they have air distributed throughout their muscular system, and 
in the cavities of the bones. 

The lungs afford the means of ascertaining whether a new-born 
child, which is found dead, was, or was not living, when born ; a 
question often of great importance in forensic medicine. The 
lungs of the infant are placed in water, to see whether they will 
swim or sink. Before birth, the lungs are dark red, contracted 
into a small place within the cavity of the breast, firm, and speci- 
fically heavier than water. They therefore sink in water, whether 
they are entire, or cut into pieces ; and when cut, no air-bubbles 
come forth, either in or out of the water, nor does much blood ap- 
pear. But if the babe has lived after birth, and therefore breathed, 
air has entered the lungs ; has thus enlarged the cavity of the 
chest, and the lungs themselves are expanded, and appear of a 



398 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

loose, spongy t exture ; oi" a pale red color, and cover the heart 
and fill the chest. They then swim in water, as well in connec- 
tion with the heart, as without it ; as well entire, as in pieces. If 
cut, a peculiar sound is audible; air proceeds from them, and rises, 
if they are pressed under water, in small bubbles. From the in- 
cisions in the lungs, red, and, generally, foamy blood issues. 
Against this test it has been objected, 1st, That air may be found 
in the lungs, though the infant never breathed. This could hap- 
pen, however, only from air having been blown into them ; but, 
in this case, the chest of the infant is not arched ; very little blood 
is to be found in the lungs, and it is not bright red, nor foamy 
from putrefaction ; but in this case, the other parts of the body 
would also be affected by putrefaction ; the lungs are not expand- 
ed ; pale red ; air-bubbles show themselves only on the surface, 
and not in the interior substance, unless the highest degree of pu- 
trefaction has taken place. 2d. It is said that the child may have 
breathed, and therefore lived, without air being found in the lungs. 
This is not proved, and is at variance with the received ideas of 
the manifestation of life. 3d. That part of the lungs may swim, 
another may sink. This -can happen only with lungs in a dis- 
eased state, and would only prove an attempt of the infant to 
breathe, without the possibility of living. 4th. That a child may 
have lived without breathing ; but this state of apparent death can- 
not be called life. Life cannot be supposed without breath. If all 
precautions are taken ; all attending circumstances considered ; the 
external appearance of the infant well observed, and the state of 
the other intestines examined, the foregoing test may be consider- 
ed as sufficient for the decision of the question, whether a child 
has lived after birth, or not. Another kind of test, by means of 
the lungs, has been proposed, which is founded on the proportion 
of the weight of the whole body to a lung which has breathed, 
and one which has not ; and still another, which rests on the cir- 
cumference of the chest, before and after breathing has commenced. 
But both are more complicated, troublesome, and less certain than 
the former one. 



BREATH.— HEAD. 399 

BREATH, 

The air which issues from the lungs, during respiration through 
the nose and mouth. This operation is performed without effort, 
but still it causes a motion in the external air, before the nose and 
mouth. The air expired is the vehicle of sound and speech. A 
smaller portion of oxygen and of carbonic acid is contained in the 
air which is exhaled, than in that which is inhaled. There are, also, 
aqueous particles in the breath, which are precipitated, by the cold- 
ness of the external air, hi the form of visible vapor; likewise 
other substances which owe their origin to secretion in the mouth, 
nose, windpipe, and lungs. These cause the changes in the 
breath, which may be known by the smell, like the other qualities 
of the air. 

In youth, the breath is insipid, and contains acid ; it loses these 
qualities, after the age of puberty, and becomes more agreeable. 
With advancing age, it becomes again unpleasant. A bad breath 
is often caused, by local affections in the nose, the mouth, or the 
windpipe : viz. by ulcers in the nose, cancerous polypi, by dis- 
charges from the mouth, by sores on the lungs, or peculiar secre- 
tions in them. It is also caused by rotten teeth, by impurities in 
the mouth, by many kinds of food, and by fevers. In the last 
case, it often varies with the character of the disease. The re- 
medy for this complaint must depend on the causes which pro- 
duce it. Substances of an aromatic kind, which have a strong, 
rich smell, should be chewed to diminish their offensiveness. But 
it is often impossible to remove this unpleasant disorder. Accord- 
ing to the Prussian code, a bad breath furnishes ground for a di- 
vorce. 



HEAD 



The part of the animal body which contains the brain, and the 
higher organs of sense. In many animals it is connected with 
the trunk, by the neck, and is more or less moveable, and is mere- 
ly a prolongation of the trunk. The head, in animals, is more 



400 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

distinct in proportion, as the brain is more fully developed as the 
center of the nervous system. It is entirely wanting in the lowest 
classes of animals, which, therefore, from the intestinal worms 
downward, form a third class, in the system of Latreille, under 
the name of acephala, (headless animals;) while those provided 
with heads are divided into two classes, the vertebral animals, 
having distinct and proper heads, and the cephalidia, having small 
and less distinctly formed heads. In this part the mouth, as the 
opening of the esophagus, is always situated. In the second class 
of animals, in which the head is less distinct, that part of the 
body which is provided with the mouth, may be called the head 
end. In the vertebral animals, (mammalia, birds, reptiles, and 
fish,) the head has a bony basis, (cartilaginous only in the carti- 
laginous fishes.) In fishes, the bones of the head are not united 
with each other ; and the formation of the separate bones is va- 
rious. In cartilaginous fishes, the head is more or less oblong 
and angular ; in osseous fishes it is less flattened, and composed 
of a considerable number of bones, connected in various ways. 
In all fishes, the cavity of the brain is very small and oblong. 
Equally various is the formation of the head in the different classes 
of reptiles. In general, the head is composed of few bones, and 
more rounded in proportion, as the brain is more developed. In 
birds, the bones of the head are more closely formed into one 
whole, constituting a skull more or less round, which contains the 
brain, and to the forepart of which, the back is attached. But 
the head is most perfect in the mammalia, and resembles the hu- 
man head more nearly, as the animal approaches more nearly to 
man. In general, the human head may be considered as the 
standard, which may be traced with gradual deviations, through 
the different classes, until it entirely ceases, in the lower orders of 
animals. Nowhere is its proper office, to serve for the reception 
of the nervous system, so distinct as in the human head ; the ca- 
vity of the skull containing the principal organ of sensitive life — 
the brain ; as the great cavities of the trunk contain the chest, the 
organs of irritable life, (the heart and lungs,) and the abdominal 
cavity, the organs of the reproductive life, (the organs of diges- 
tion and generation.) 

The superiority of the head over the other two parts just men- 
tioned, appears also from the circumstance, that whilst it is pre- 



BRAIN. 401 

eminently the seat of the nervous system, it also contains organs 
essential for functions of the irritable and reproductive system ; as 
the inspiration and expiration of the air are effected through the 
nostrils and mouth, and the entrance of food into the abdominal 
cavity, as well as the preparation of it for digestion, by mastica- 
tion and the production of saliva, is effected by the mouth ; and 
these organs appear more prominent, in the heads of animals, as 
their sensitive system sinks lower in the scale. It must not be for- 
gotten, that the head also contains the tongue, an organ not only 
important in respect to nourishment, but also communicating the 
desires and thoughts, until it becomes, in man, the organ of oral 
intercourse, of language, and of the finest music — singing. 

The human head, and, more or less, the head of other animals, 
is divided into two chief parts, the skull and the face. The im- 
portance of the head, as the noblest part of the animal system, has 
occasioned it to be used metaphorically, in all languages, to denote 
that which is chief. 



BRAIN. 

The brain is a soft substance, partly reddish-gray and partly 
whitish, situated in the skull, penetrated by numerous veins, and 
invested by several membranes. Democritus and Anaxagoras dis- 
sected this organ, almost three thousand years ago. Haller, Vicq 
d'Azir, and other anatomists in modern times, have also dissected 
and investigated it, without exhausting the subject. 

Between the skull and the substance of the brain, three mem- 
branes are found. The outer one is called the dura mater. This 
is strong, dense, and elastic. It invests and supports the brain. 
The next which we meet is the tunica arachnoidea. This is of 
a pale white color, yet in some degree transparent, very thin, and, 
in a healthy state, exhibits no appearance of vessels. The mem- 
brane below this, is called the pia mater. It covers the whole 
surface of the brain. It is very vascular, and a great portion of 
the blood which the brain receives, is spread out upon its surface, 
in minute vessels. 
51 



402 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

The brain consists of two principal parts, connected by delicate 
veins and fibers. The larger portion, the cerebrum, occupies, in 
men, the upper part of the head, and is seven or eight times larger 
than the other, the cerebellum, lying behind and below it. It rests 
on the bones which form the cavities of the eyes, the bottom of 
the skull, and the tentorium, and projects behind over the cerebel- 
lum. On the whole exterior of the cerebellum, there are convo- 
lutions, resembling the windings of the small intestines. The 
external reddish substance of the brain is soft and vascular, and is 
called the cortical substance ; the internal is white, and is called 
the medullary substance of the brain. This medulla consists of 
fibers, which are very different in different parts. The cerebellum 
lies below the cerebrum, in a peculiar cavity of the skull. By 
examining the surface, it is seen to be divided into a right and left 
lobe, by the spinal marrow lying between, but connected at the 
top and bottom. Like the cerebrum, it is surrounded by a vascu- 
lar membrane, reddish-gray on the outside, and composed of a 
medullary substance within. In proportion to its size, also, it has 
a more extensive surface, and more of the vascular membrane, 
than the cerebrum. In a horizontal section of it, we find parallel 
curved portions of the cortical and the medullary substances alter- 
nating with each other. Between the cortical and the medullary 
substances, there is always found, in the cerebellum, a third inter- 
mediate yellow substance. All the medulla of the cerebellum is 
also united in the middle by a thick cord. 

Experience teaches, that in the structure of the brain, irregulari- 
ties are far more uncommon than in other parts of the human body. 
It is worthy of observation, that every part of the brain is exactly 
symmetrical with the parts opposite. Even those which lie in 
the middle, and are apparently single, consist, in fact, of two sym- 
metrical portions. The total weight of the human brain is esti- 
mated at two or three pounds. It is larger and heavier in propor- 
tion to the youth of the subject; and in old age it becomes speci- 
fically lighter. In delirious affections, it is sometimes harder, and 
sometimes less solid, and softer. The brain is the organ of sensa- 
tion, and, consequently, the material representative of the soul, 
and the noblest organ of the body. 



NERVES. 403 



NERVES. 



The nerves of the animal frame are composed of bundles of white 
parallel medullary threads. Every bundle is surrounded with a soft 
sheath full of blood vessels, and whose finest branches terminate in 
the substance of the nerves. These nerves are spread through the 
whole animal frame, and variously connected with each other. 
Only the epidermis, hair, and nails are destitute of them. They 
are of various sizes, according as they are composed of more or 
fewer bundles of medullary threads. In the course of the nerves, 
there are a number of knots, these are called ganglions ; they are 
commonly of an oblong shape, and of a grayish color, somewhat 
inclining to red, which is, perhaps, owing to their being extremely 
vascular. In particular parts of the body, the nerves come in con- 
tact with each other, and the bundles composing them are mutu- 
ally interwoven to such a degree that they cannot be disjoined with- 
out violence. These communications are called plexuses, and 
are found particularly in the abdomen, behind the stomach, and 
in the region of the pit of the stomach, near the liver, mesentery, 
heart, etc. The final terminations of these nerves are various ; 
particularly those which run to the organs of sense. In the auri- 
cular organ, for instance, the nerves terminate in a soft mass, like 
pap, surrounded with moisture ; the optic nerve terminates in a 
medullary skin; the nerves of taste terminate in little papillae; 
those of feeling, in the points of the fingers, and the surface of the 
skin in general ; those belonging to the muscles are lost in the tex- 
ture of the same, so that their termination cannot be correctly as- 
certained. All the nerves are embraced under the general head of 
the nervous system. This is most intimately connected with the 
brain and spinal marrow, which may be regarded as a prolonga- 
tion of it. 

The brain is the center from which, or to which, proceed all 
impressions communicated to the nerves. The substance of the 
nerves is the same medullary matter which constitutes the brain, 
resembling the white of an egg, and appearing, to the unassisted 
eye, as if composed of little balls. The central termination of all 
the nerves is in the brain and spinal marrow, where they branch 
out into the skin, or interior of the organs. The various isolated 



404 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

and, in part, heterogeneous structures of which the body consists, 
which are mechanically joined by the cellular tissue, the mem- 
branes and ligaments, are united into one harmonious whole by 
means of the nerves. The vascular system connects them only 
so far as it supplies the blood required for their support and their 
operations ; but it is properly the nervous system that imparts to 
all their life, governs their operations, and establishes their sym- 
pathy and mutual action. This is effected by means of that por- 
tion of the nervous system which is diffused through the abdomen, 
forming many nets and plexuses, and constituting what is called 
vegetative, or reproductive, or organic nervous system, because 
the growth and support of the body are effected by it. Another 
part of the nervous system affords the means of consciousness and 
voluntary action. This is the brain, or cerebral system, which ex- 
cites the nerves that put in action the muscles of voluntary mo- 
tion, and those which supply sensibility to the organs of sense, 
and convey to the brain the impressions thence received. 

The nerves which communicate with the organs of sense run in 
pairs : the first pair (olfactory nerve) to the nose, where it is spread 
over the surface of the nostrils, and forms the power of smell ; the 
second (optic nerve) to the eyes ; this is round, thick, and pene- 
trates from behind the ball or globe of the eye, through a round 
plate of the firm coat of the ball containing many little apertures, 
and is spread out on the inner and concave surface of the globe 
into a thin coat called the retina, on which the images of external 
objects are formed; the eighth pair (auditory nerves) are spread 
over the interior of the ear, and are sensible to the vibrations of 
the air. From the numerous ramifications of the ninth pair come 
the nerves of the tongue, which give rise to the sense of taste. The 
general sense of feeling is situated particularly in the skin, and 
peculiarlyin the points of the fingers. This sense is produced by 
a variety of nerves diffused over the skin, and those parts which 
are most sensitive are supplied with the greatest quantity of nerves, 
which form entire series of contiguous nervous papillse ; for in- 
stance, at the lips, the points of the fingers, etc. Thus the action 
of the nerves is reciprocal from without inwards, and from within 
outwards ; the first, because the impressions on the organs of sense 
are communicated, by the nerves, to the brain, and there form per- 
ceptions and feelings ; the second, because the voluntary motions 



EAR. 405 

are produced by communications from the brains to the nerves, 
while the reproductive part of the nervous system quietly supports 
the whole machine, and, in a sound state of the body, is recognised 
only by the operation of the appetites, and by a general feeling of 
ease throughout the system ; but, in a diseased state, gives rise to 
general uneasiness and pain. The power of the nervous system 
has no fixed point, but is variable even in the same subject. In 
sleep, the activity of the cerebral system is impaired ; that of the 
reproductive system heightened ; therefore, in quiet sleep, the 
operations of the senses and voluntary motions cease, while the 
activity of the organs of respiration and circulation, of digestion, se- 
cretion, and nourishment, continues. From what has been said, 
it appears that the whole action of the body depends upon the ner- 
vous system. 



EAR. 



The ear is the organ of hearing. It is situated at the side of 
the head, and is divided into external and internal ear. The au- 
ricula, or pinna, commonly called the ear, constitutes the exter- 
nal part. It is of a greater or less size, according to the individ- 
ual. The pinna is formed of a fibrous cartilage, elastic and pliant. 
The skin which covers it is thin and dry. There are also seen, 
upon the different projections of the cartilaginous ear, certain mus- 
cular fibers, to which the name of muscles has been given. The 
pinna, receiving many vessels and nerves, is very sensible, and 
easily becomes red. It is fixed to the head by the cellular tissue, 
and by muscles, which are called, according to their positions, an- 
terior, superior, or posterior. These muscles are much developed 
in many animals ; in man, they may be considered as simple ves- 
tiges. 

The meatus auditorius, or auditory passage, extends from the 
concha to the membrane of the tympanum ; its length, variable 
according to age, is from ten to twelve lines in the adult ; it is 
narrower in the middle than at the ends ; it presents a slight curve 
above, and in front. Its external orifice is commonly covered 



406 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

with hairs, like the entrance to the other cavities. The middle 
ear comprehends the cavity of the tympanum, the little bones 
which are contained in this cavity, the mastoid cells, the eusta- 
chian tube, etc. The tympanum is a cavity which separates the 
external, from the internal ear. Its form is that of a portion of a 
cylinder, but a little irregular. The external side presents the 
membrana tympani. This membrane is directed obliquely down- 
ward and inward ; it is bent, very slender and transparent, covered 
on the outside by a continuation of the skin ; on the inside, by 
the narrow membrane which covers the tympanum. Its tissue is 
dry, brittle, and has nothing analagous in the animal economy ; 
there are neither fibers, vessels or nerves found in it. The cavity 
of the tympanum, and all the canals which end there, are covered 
with a very slender mucous membrane ; this cavity, which is al- 
ways full of air, contains, besides, four small bones (which form a 
chain from the membrana tympani to the fenestra ovalis,) where 
the base of the stapes is fixed. There are some little muscles, for the 
purpose of moving this osseous chain ; of stretching and slackening 
the membranes to which it is attached ; thus the internal muscle 
of the malleus draws it forward ; bends the chain in this direction, 
and stretches the membrane ; the anterior muscle produces the 
contrary effect. It is also supposed that the small muscle which 
is placed in the pyramid, and which is attached to the neck of the 
stapes, may give a slight tension to the chain, in drawing it to- 
wards itself. 

The internal ear, or labyrinth, is composed by the cochlea, of 
the semicircular canals, and of the vestibule. The cochlea is a 
bony cavity, in form of a spiral, from which it has taken its name. 
This cavity is divided into two others, which are distinguished in- 
to external and internal. The partition which separates them, is 
a plate, set edgeways, and which, in its whole length, is partly 
bony, and partly membranous. The semicircular canals are 
three cylindrical cavities, bent into a semicircular form, two of 
which are disposed horizontally, and the others vertically. These 
canals terminate by their extremities in the vestibule. They con- 
tain bodies of a gray color, the extremities of which are terminat- 
ed by swellings. The vestibule is the central cavity ; the point 
of union for all the others. It communicates with the tympanum, 
the cochlea, the semicircular canals, and the internal meatus audi- 



THE APPENDAGES OF THE HUMAN EYE. 407 

torius, by a great number of little openings, The cavities of the 
internal ear are entirely hollowed out of the hardest part of the 
temporal bone ; they are covered with an extremely thin mem- 
brane, and are full of a very thin and limpid fluid ; they contain, 
besides, the acoustic nerve. The internal ear and middle ear are 
traversed by several nervous threads ; the presence of which is, 
perhaps, useful to hearing. 



THE APPENDAGES OF THE HUMAN EYE. 

The appendages of the eye, says Dr. J. Bryan, are almost as 
important to sight, in the human family, as the eye itself. The 
eye-ball, placed in a socket called the orbit, is moved in various 
directions, by means of six muscles, four of which are straight, 
and taking their origin from the back part of the orbit, around the 
foramen through which the optic nerve enters, extend forward, 
and are inserted into the eye-ball, just back of the cornea. The 
position of these muscles is such, as to produce four movements 
of the eye, the superior one being inserted into the upper surface, 
the inferior one into the lower, and the remaining two, one each 
side, so that, by their contractions, they produce movements, first 
upwards, second downards, third outwards, and fourth towards 
the nose, or inwards. The other two muscles are called the ob- 
lique, from their producing oblique motions of the eye ; the larger 
one running through a little loop, just under the internal angle of 
the eye, takes its origin from the four straight ones, at the back 
part of the orbit, and, after going through the loop, extends back- 
wards, and is inserted in the upper part of the eye. This muscle, 
in animal mechanics, is a complete example of a tackle or pulley. 
The other oblique muscle is much shorter, and takes its origin 
from the anterior or middle part of the orbit, and extending out- 
wards, is inserted into the external side of the eye : when it con- 
tracts, it draws the eye obliquely inward and downward, produc- 
ing, when two strong for its antagonist, squinting; to cure squint- 
ing, therefore, in children, we must strengthen the antagonist 
muscles, so that one shall not overpower the other : this is done. 



408 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

of course, by bringing the weaker muscle or muscles into active 
exercise. 

The whole eye-ball is enveloped in a soft cushion of fat, so 
that it is moved, in every direction, with the greatest facility. In 
studying the comparative anatomy of the eye, we are struck with 
the various and curious means resorted to, to give it motion ; in 
some, it is placed, as it were, on the end of the arm, which is 
thrust out to reconnoiter; in others, (the spider for instance,) the 
number is multiplied, and each one is stationary, etc., etc. 

The eye is kept moist and transparent by means of the lachry- 
mal fluid; it is secreted by a gland situated under the external angle 
of each eye, that is called the lachrymal gland., and transmits the 
fluid, when secreted, over the eye through the small tubes, which 
open on the internal surface of the upper lid ; it is further spread 
and made to moisten the whole anterior of the eye, by the motion 
of the lids ; the lids are formed of skin, fatty matter, and a carti- 
lage of gristly substance, called the tarsal cartilage. The edges of 
the lids are fringed by beautiful, irregular rows of hairs, which, in 
the upper lids, are turned upwards, and the lower ones downwards, 
so that, when the lids are closed, the convex surface of the hairs 
are brought together, but they do not intermix. This beautiful 
arrangement assists very much in protecting the eye from dust, 
perspiration, etc. The internal surface of the lids, and all the 
anterior parts of the eye, are covered by a very fine membrane, 
called tunica conjunctiva, which prevents extraneous matter from 
going father than just under the lids, and generally under the up- 
per one ; this, when it is some light or smooth substance, is re- 
medied by raising the upper lid, and drawing it over the lower 
one, the convex hairs of which, make an admirable brush to sweep 
the eye. 

Between the union of the lids on the nasal side, there is a little 
projection, called caruncular lachry mails. In some animals this 
is enlarged, and forms what is, in fact, a new eye-lid, called man- 
or ana nictitans. The motion of the lids is chiefly in the upper 
one, hence this has a distinct muscle of its own, which, taking its 
origin near the optic foramen, with the muscles of the eye-ball, is 
inserted into the substance of the lid, and is called the levator pal- 
pebra. Another secretory apparatus is composed of a series of 
small glands, which are named, in compliment to the anatomist 



THE APPENDAGES OF THE HUMAN EYE. 409 

who first described them, Merbomean. When the eye-lids are 
inverted, these glands will be seen, in parallel rows, on the sur- 
face of the cartilages, and under the conjunctiva: each of them 
opens on the margin of the eye-lid by a separate duct. It is in- 
flammation of one these small glands, which causes the common 
disease, stye. The secretions from these glands seem to increase 
at night, and in children, and those who have inflamed eyes, the 
lids are often glued together in the morning. From what has been 
said above, we are now prepared to understand the manner by 
which the eye is kept moist. When this moisture becomes re- 
dundant, it is carried off by the following means. On the edge 
of each groove, which, coming in opposition to its fellow, assists 
in forming a canal which extends from the outer to the inner an- 
gle of the eye, the fluid secreted by the lachrymal gland, and 
spread over the eye in the way above mentioned, is collected in 
this '.canal, and passes along it to the inner angle, where two small 
tubes take it up, (one in each,) and convey it to a third, called the 
lachrymal sac, which empties in the nose ; hence, when an excess 
of tears is secreted, the nose is incommoded, and snuffling in 
children is the result. 

The brow is designed to protect the eye by shading it, and oth- 
erwise. The hair in the brows does not grow straight out, like 
that of the head, nor upward and downward, as that of the lids, 
but those of each one grow outward. Much of the beauty and 
expression of the face depends on the size, color, and form of the 
brow. The Romans thought it a mark of comeliness that they 
should meet. This certainly gave them a more ferocious and war- 
like air. The Roman ladies painted their brows so as to meet, 
while the fair Greeks kept them separate, and formed them into a 
beautiful arch, gently terminating into nothing. The separation of 
the brow with an unfurrowed front, gives a calm and intelligent 
expression to the countenance. The storms of passion, the writh- 
ing of pain, etc., are first seen by a second person, in the knitting 
of the brow. 

Knowing the structure of the eye, some of the diseases may be 
mentioned with propriety. The internal coat or retina sometimes 
becomes diseased, and the sight is lost, or nearly lost, before the 
patient or his friends are aware of it, there are so few outward 
signs, by which a common observer would recognize it. When 
52 



410 PHYSIOLOGICAL, 

the lens becomes diseased or opaque, it must be extracted or cut 
up, and removed to another part of the eye, so that the natural 
powers of the system may carry it off. The corner is subject to 
inflammation, ulceration, and opacity, which, of course, when co- 
extensive, destroy vision. The conjunctiva, when inflamed, pro- 
duces what, in ordinary language, is emphatically called sore eyes. 
It frequently becomes red from some slight causes, such as dust 
under the lids, cold, etc., etc. When the edges of the lids be- 
come inflamed, the tears do not follow their natural course ; and 
instead of going through the lachrymal sac, flow over the cheek. 
Many persons inherit weak eyes from their parents, and are sub- 
ject to an unpleasant overflow of tears, from slight causes ; such 
persons frequently ruin their eyes, by trying every nostrum whicli 
they hear of, for relief, in vain; eye-water, eye-salve, ointment, 
etc., etc. 



MUSCLE, 

The parts that are usually included under this name, consist of 
distinct portions of flesh, susceptible of contraction and relaxation, 
the motions of which, in a natural and healthy state, are subject 
to the will ; and for this reason, they are called voluntary mus- 
cles. Besides these, there are other parts of the body that owe 
their power of contraction to their muscular fibers : thus the heart 
is a muscular texture, forming what is called a hollow muscle ; 
and the stomach, intestines, etc., are enabled to act upon their con- 
tents, merely because they are supplied with muscular fibers: 
these are called involuntary muscles, because their motions are 
not dependent on the will. The muscles of respiration, being in 
some degree influenced by the will, are said to have a mixed mo- 
tion. 

The names by which the voluntary muscles are distinguished, 
are founded on their size, figure, situation, use, or the arrangement 
of their fibers, or their origin and insertion; but besides these par- 
ticular distinctions, there are certain general ones, that require to 
be noticed, Thus, if the fibers of a muscle are placed parallel to 



MUSCLE. 411 

each other, in a straight direction, they form what anatomists term 
a rectilinear muscle ; if the fibers cross and intersect each other, 
they constitute a compound muscle ; when the fibers are disposed 
in the manner of rays, a radiated muscle ; when they are placed 
obliquely with respect to the tendon, like the plume of a pen, a 
penniform muscle. Muscles that act in opposition to each other, 
are termed antagonists : thus, every extensor has a flexor for its 
antagonist, and vice versa. Muscles that concur in the same ac- 
tion, are termed congeneres. The muscles being attached to 
bones, the latter may be considered as levers, that are moved in 
different directions by the contraction of those organs. That end 
of the muscle which adheres to the most fixed part, is usually 
called the origin, and that which adheres to the more movable part, 
the insertion of the muscle. In almost every muscle, two kinds 
of fibers are distinguished : the one soft, of a red color, sensible and 
irritable, called the fleshy fibers ; the other of a firmer texture, of 
a white, glistening color, insensible, without irritability, or the 
power of contracting, called the tendinous fibers. They are oc- 
casionally intermixed, but the fleshy fibers generally prevail in the 
belly, or middle part of the muscle, and the tendinous ones in the 
extremities. If these tendinous fibers are formed into a round, 
slender cord, they form what is called the tendon of the muscle ; 
on the other hand, if they are spread into a broad, flat surface, 
they form what is called an aponeurosis. The fibers that com- 
pose the body of a muscle, are disposed in fasciculi, or bundles, 
which are easily distinguishable by the naked eye : but these fas- 
ciculi are divisible into still smaller ones ; and these, again, are 
probably subdivisible ad infinitum. The most minute fiber we 
are able to trace, seems to be somewhat plaited ; these plaits dis- 
appearing when the fiber is put on the stretch, seem evidently to 
be the effect of contraction, and have probably induced some wri- 
ters to assert, that the muscular fiber is twisted, or spiral. A fiber 
is essentially composed of fibrine and osmazome, receives a great 
deal of blood, and, at last, one nervous filament. 

By chimical analysis, muscle is found to consist chiefly of 
fibrine, with albumen, gelatine, extractive, phosphate of soda, 
phosphate of ammonia, phosphate and carbonate of lime, and sul- 
phate of potassa. Each muscle is surrounded by a thin and deli- 
cate covering of cellular membrane, which dipping down into its 



412 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

substance, incloses the most minute fibers we are able to trace, 
connecting them with each other, lubricating them by means of the 
fat which its cells contain, in more or less quantity in different 
subjects, and serving as a support to the blood-vessels, lymphatics, 
and nerves, which are distributed through the muscles. The mus- 
cles owe the red color which so particularly distinguishes their 
belly part, to an infinite number of arteries, which are everywhere 
dispersed through the whole of their reticular substance ; for their 
fibers, after having been macerated in water, are (like all other 
parts of the body divested of their blood) found to be of a white 
color. The veins, for the most part, accompany the arteries, but 
are larger and more numerous. The lymphatics are more numer- 
ous, as might be expected from the great proportion of reticular 
substance which is everywhere found investing the muscular fibers. 
The nerves are distributed in such abundance to every muscle, 
that the muscles of the thumb alone receive a greater proportion 
of nervous influence than the largest viscera. 

Muscular Motion.— -Muscular motions are of three kinds, — 
namely: voluntary, involuntary, and mixed. The voluntary mo- 
tions of muscles proceed from an exertion of the will : thus, the 
mind directs the arm to be raised or depressed, the knee to be bent, 
the tongue to be moved, etc. The involuntary motions of mus- 
cles are performed by organs, without any attention of the mind, 
as the contraction and dilatation of the heart, arteries, veins, ab- 
sorbents, stomach, intestines, etc. The mixed motions are those 
which are in part under the control of the will, but which ordina- 
rily act without our being conscious of their acting, and are per- 
ceived in the muscles of respiration, the intercostals, the abdomi- 
nal muscles, and the diaphragm. When a muscle acts, it becomes 
shorter and thicker — both its origin and insertion are drawn to- 
wards the middle. The sphincter muscles are always in action, 
and so likewise are antagonist muscles, even when they seem at 
rest. When two antagonist muscles move with equal force, the 
part which they are designated to move, remains at rest ; but if 
one of the antagonist muscles remains at rest, while the other acts, 
the part is moved towards the center of motion. When a muscle 
is divided, it contracts. If a muscle be stretched to a certain ex- 
tent, it contracts, and endeavors to acquire its former dimensions, 
as the stretching cause is removed. When a muscle is wounded, 



MUSCLE. 413 

or otherwise irritated, it contracts independently of the will ; this 
power is called irritability, and it is a property peculiar to, and 
inherent in the muscles. When a muscle is stimulated, either 
through the medium of the will, or any foreign body, it contracts, 
and the contraction is greater or less in proportion as the stimulus 
applied is greater or less. The contraction of muscles is differ- 
ent, according to the purpose to be served by their contraction : 
thus, the heart contracts with a jerk; the urinary bladder, slowly 
and uniformly. The intensity of muscular contraction — that is, 
the degree of power with which they draw themselves together — « 
is regulated by the action of the brain : it is generally regulated 
by the will, according to certain limits, which are different in dif- 
ferent individuals. A particular organization of the muscles, is 
favorable to the intensity of their contraction ; this organization is, 
a considerable volume of fibers, strong, of a deep red, and striated 
transversely. The cerebral influence, and the disposition of the 
muscular tissue, are the two elements of the intensity of muscu- 
lar contraction. 

A very great cerebral energy is rarely found united in the same 
individual with that disposition of the muscular fibers which is ne- 
cessary to produce intense contractions. These elements are al- 
most always in an inverse ratio. When they are united, they 
produce astonishing effects. Perhaps this union existed in the 
athlatse of antiquity ; in our times, it is observed in certain moun- 
tebanks. The muscular power may be carried to a wonderful de- 
gree, by the action of the brain alone ; we know the strength of an 
enraged person, of maniacs, and of persons in convulsions. The 
will governs the duration of the contraction ; it cannot be carried 
beyond a certain length of time, however it may vary in different 
individuals. A feeling of weariness takes place, not very great at 
first, but which goes on increasing, until the muscle refuses con- 
traction. To prevent this inconvenience, the motions of the body 
are so calculated, that the muscles act in succession, the duration 
of each being but short. Our not being able to rest long in the 
same position is thus explained, as an attitude which causes the 
contraction of a small number of muscles, can be preserved but a 
very short time. The feeling of fatigue, occasioned by muscular 
contraction, soon goes off, and in a short time the muscles recover 
the power of contracting. The quickness of the contractions are. 



414 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

to a certain degree, subject to cerebral influence. We have a 
proof of this in our ordinary motions ; but beyond this degree, it 
depends evidently on habit. 

In respect of the rapidity of motion ; there is an immense dif- 
ference between that of a man, who touches a piano for the first 
time, and that which the same man produces, after several years' 
practice. There is, besides, a very great difference in persons, 
with regard to the quickness of contractions, either in ordinary 
motions, or those which depend on habit. As to the extent of the 
contractions, it is directed by the will : but it must necessarily de- 
pend on the length of the fibers ; long fibers having a greater ex- 
tent of contractions than those that are short. The will has gen- 
erally a great influence on the contraction of muscles ; it is not, 
however, indispensible ; in many circumstances, motion takes 
place, not only without participation of the will, but even contrary 
to it ; we find very striking examples of this, in the effects of ha- 
bit, of the passions, and of diseases. 



CARTILAGE. 

Cartilage is a semi-peilucid substance, of a milk-white or pear- 
ly color, entering into the composition of several parts of the body. 
It holds a middle rank, in point of firmness, between bones or hard 
parts, and the softer constituents of the human frame. It appears, 
on a superficial examination, to be homogeneous in its texture ; 
for, when cut, the surface is uniform, and contains no visible cells, 
cavities nor pores, but resembles the section of a piece of glue. It 
possesses a very high degree of elasticity, which properly dis- 
tinguishes it from all other parts of the body. Hence it enters 
into the composition of parts, whose functions require the combi- 
nation of firmness with pliancy and flexibility ; the preservation of 
a certain external form, with the power of yielding to external 
force or pressure. 

Anatomists divide cartilage into two kinds, the temporary and 
the 'permanent. The former are Confined to the earlier stages of 
existence ; the latter commonly retain their cartilaginous structure 



BONE. 41 5 

throughout life. The temporary cartilages are those in which the 
bones are formed. All the bones, except the teeth, are formed in 
a nidus of cartilage. The permanent cartilages are of various 
kinds. They compose the external ear, and external aperture of 
the nostrils and eyelids. The larynx is formed entirely of this 
substance ; and the trachea, or windpipe, with its branches, is fur- 
nished with cartilaginous hoops, by which these tubes are kept 
permanently open, for the ready passage of the air to and from 
the lungs. The bodies of the vertebras are joined by large masses 
of a peculiar substance, partaking of the properties and appear- 
ance of cartilage and ligament, which allow of the motions of 
these parts on each other, without weakening the support that is 
afforded to the upper parts of the body in general, and to the head 
in particular, by the vertebral column. These cartilages impart 
great elasticity to the spine, by which the effects of concussion, 
from jumping, from fall, etc., are weakened and destroyed, before 
they can be propagated to the head. When the body has been 
long in an erect position, the compression of these cartilages, by 
the superior parts, diminishes the hight of the person. They re- 
cover their former length when freed from this pressure. Hence 
a person is taller when he rises in the morning, than after sus- 
taining the fatigues of the day ; and the difference has sometimes 
amounted to an inch. Cartilages are sometimes interposed be- 
tween the articular surfaces of bones, where they fill up irregulari- 
ties, that might otherwise impede the motions of the part, and in- 
crease the security of the joint, by adapting the articular surfaces 
to each other. These surfaces are, in every instance, covered by 
a thin crust of cartilage, having its surface most exquisitely polish- 
ed, by which all friction in the motions of the joint is avoided. , 



BONE. 



The bones are the hardest and most solid parts of animals. They 
constitute the frame ; serve as points of attachment to the muscles, 
and afford support to the softer solids. They are the instru- 
ments, as muscles are the organs of motion. In the mammalia. 



416 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

birds, fish and reptiles, the whole system of bones, united by the 
vertebral column, is called the skeleton. In the fetus, they are 
first a vascular, gelatinous substance, in different points of which, 
earthy matter is gradually deposited. This process is perceptible 
towards the end of the second month ; and, at the time of maturi- 
ty, the bone is completely formed. Afterbirth, the bones become 
gradually more solid, and, in the temperate zone, reach their per- 
fection in men between the ages of fifteen and twenty. From this 
age, until fifty, they change but slightly ; after that period, they 
grow thinner, lighter, and more brittle. Those of the two first 
classes of animals are harder on their exterior than they are inter- 
nally. Their material, except in the teeth, is nearly the same 
throughout. Their structure is vascular, and they are traversed 
by the blood-vessels, and the absorbents. They are hardest at the 
surface, which is formed by a firm membrane, called the perios- 
teum; the internal parts are cellular, containing a substance called 
marrGW. The use of the marrow is to prevent the too great dry- 
ness and brittleness of the bones. 

Chimistry decomposes bone into gelatin, fat, cartilage, and 
earthy salts. A fresh bone boiled in water, or exposed to the 
action of an acid, gives out its gelatin. If boiled in water, on 
cooling the decoction, a jelly is formed, which makes a good por- 
table soup. A pound of bone yields twice as much as the same 
quantity of fish. The earth of bones is obtained by calcination ; 
that is, by exposing them to a red heat, by which they are de- 
prived of the soft substances. That part of anatomy which treats 
of the bone, is called osteology. 



SPINE. 

Spine, (from spina, thorn, so called, from the shape of the pro- 
cesses of the vertebras,) in anatomy, the vertebral or spinal column, 
the bach-bone in common language, is the articulated bony pillar 
at the back of the trunk, forming the foundation or basis of sup- 
port and connection to all the other parts of the frame. It is placed 
perpendicularly in the body, supporting the head on its upper ex- 



SPINE. 417 

tremity, while the lower end rests on the pelvis. The bones of 
the chest, to which the upper extremities are attached, are fixed to 
its sides, while the ossa innominata, or the great bones to which 
the lower limbs are articulated, are immovably united to it below. 
It is the point of attachment and support in front for the viscera of 
the thorax and abdomen, and for the great trunks of the blood vessels. 
We may thus regard it as the central and most essential piece of 
the skeleton, as the center of motion for the head and limbs, and 
the basis of support for all the great internal organs. Again : the 
bones which compose it give attachment to the principal muscles 
moving the head, the shoulders, and the arms, to those which act 
on the trunk, and to some part of the abdominal muscles, and of 
those which move the lower limbs. Further, it constitutes a canal 
which receives and protects the spinal marrow, and gives issue to 
the various nerves proceeding from that organ to the trunk and 
limbs. 

The importance of the spine is so great that it modifies all the 
details of the organization of the animals which possess it. It is 
formed of twenty-nine pieces of bones strongly articulated into 
each other, and placed in succession, from above, downwards. 
The twenty-four upper ones are called vertebrae. 

Distortions of the spine are the unnatural inflections of the spine, 
which give a more or less deformed figure to the trunk, and even 
to the limbs ; hence wry neck, high shoulders, hump back, uneven 
hips, lameness, etc., are very frequent among the higher classes of 
our time, particularly among the females ; and, generally, owing 
to want of care or judgment in those who have charge of children, 
or to the injudicious habits of the persons afflicted, and frequently 
aggravated and made permanent by improper means used for reme- 
dying them. The beauty of the whole body depends chiefly upon 
the natural formation of the spine. This column of vertebrae ought 
not, permanently, to deviate from the straight line to the right or 
left ; but it has, naturally, some slight curvatures forwards and 
backwards. In the region of the loins, it is bent a little forwards ; 
in the region of the chest a little backwards ; and at the neck, 
again, somewhat forward. This regular formation of the spine is 
produced by the character of the vertebra, the cartilages which 
unite them, and the muscles of the back, which support and move 
them. If the vertebra themselves suffer from disease, as, for in? 
53 



418 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

stance, in case of rickets, the spine is not capable of supporting 
the head and keeping the body straight ; it becomes curved, and, 
if remedies are not applied in season, this unnatural curvature in- 
creases daily, and permanent distortion at length takes place. If 
the cartilages and ligatures suffer relaxation, as in case of a debili- 
tated state of the body, the spine cannot, after every motion, re- 
sume its proper position ; and it may easily happen that some ver- 
tebrae become partially dislocated, and thus a disposition to distor- 
tion takes place, because the part of the spine over these vertebrae 
is deprived of its proper support, and must incline to one side. 
The muscles of the back, situated on both sides of the spine, equal 
in number and form, and destined, not only to execute the mani- 
fold movements of the trunk, but, also, to maintain, by the equili- 
brium of their power, the straight direction of the spine, frequently 
occasions distortions by losing their vigor ; for the spine, in this 
case, wanting its natural support, inclines sideways or backwards. 
The same effect may be produced by too frequent, or too continu- 
ed, use of one set of muscles in a particular way ; for the spine 
becomes, at last, permanently fixed in the posture which it has 
been compelled to assume during the exercise. This survey 
shows us the various causes of distortions, and the proper means 
for preventing them. The causes may be reduced to diseases and 
injudicious habits. 

The diseases of children, which may occasion distortions of the 
spine, are chiefly scrofula and rickets, so often connected with it, 
and general debility. These diseases may be best prevented by 
the use of food easily digestible, by pure air, hard bed, not too 
warm, frequent exercise, great cleanliness, frequent bathing, wash- 
ing, and rubbing the skin, and similar requisites of a good physical 
education. The muscles of the back are often debilitated by com- 
pelling children, particularly weakly ones, to sit up in a constrained 
posture, which distresses the spine, and produces a sinking and 
bending, in search of relief, or by allowing children too little free 
movement and exercise, and obliging them, continually, to sit still 
and read, the surest mode of producing physical and intellectual 
cripples. The use of corsets also contributes much to the weak- 
ness of the dorsal muscles, and, consequently, to distortion of the 
spine. If the shoulders are continually supported, artificially, by 
a corset, the dorsal muscles, destined by nature to keep the spine 



SPINE. 419 

straight, remain inactive, and lose their power ; the body becomes 
unable to support itself without the corset, and a sinking and bend- 
ing take place as soon as it is removed. If to this is added the 
continual command, perhaps accompanied by threats, to sit straight, 
which has become actually impossible to the child, its exertions 
result in nothing but a curvature of the spine, which is, therefore, 
so frequent in girls of the higher classes ; but, in boys of the same 
families, who are neither tormented with corsets, nor admonished 
so repeatedly to sit straight, is much rarer. The second cause of 
distortions, injudicious habits, deserves particular attention, be- 
cause much may be done to prevent them. The habit of many 
nurses to carry children always on the same arm, accustoms the 
child to incline always to one side, and to sleep in one position, 
from which a distortion of the spine naturally arises in 
the course of time. The bad position of the body in some 
amusements and occupations-— for instance, the manner in which 
young people sit in writing, reading, drawing, sewing, embroider- 
ing, playing on the flute, violin, harp, and guitar ; the habit of 
crossing the feet in standing, or of standing on one foot ; the habit 
of lying crooked in bed ; and even the habit of girls to spend a 
long time, in a constrained position, dressing their own hair, may 
occasion distortion of the spine. Every one-sided motion, often 
repeated, may produce a tendency to such distortion ; and the ten- 
dency once existing, the evil increases every day. This distor- 
tion, besides disfiguring the body and unfitting the subject forcer- 
tain associations, also tends to produce inflammation of the lungs, 
dropsy of the chest, pulmonary consumption, and apoplexy — a 
general disturbance of the health, and early death. With women, 
it often gives rise to painful labors, and sometimes makes a natu- 
ral delivery impossible. 

The proper means of guarding against distortion we have already 
suggested in the directions respecting food, air, exercise, and 
cleanliness ; the prevention of ill habits on the part of nurses, and 
of the children themselves, and in the important rule not to com- 
pel a straight carriage of the body by the wearing of corsets, nor 
by the continual injunction to stand and sit straight, as both tend 
directly to produce the evil intended to be preventecj. It is im- 
portant to detect a distortion of the spine as early as possible. It 
is, therefore, the duty of mothers and governesses to examine 



420 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

often the body of children. The child should be undressed and 
placed in such a way, (not lying down,) that the whole position 
may be as easy as possible. Then the vertebrae must be struck 
slightly with the hand to discover if there is a prominence or a 
sensation of pain in any place. The examiner should then pro- 
ceed to the parts of the body on each side of the spine, which 
ought to be perfectly equal. The neck, the shoulders, and the 
hips, are to be looked at : if the latter are uneven, the hip-joints 
and feet must be also tried. The examiner should also see whe- 
ther the breast bone is precisely in the middle of the breast, and 
whether it forms a straight line, whether the clavicles are uniform, 
whether the ribs lie even. With grown girls, the unevenness of 
the breasts often furnishes the earliest sign of distortion of the 
spine. These examinations ought to be made once or twice a 
week, and, in the case of girls, even after they have arrived at ma- 
turity, because the years immediately succeeding the period of pu- 
berty, are those in which distortions are most frequently manifest- 
ed in the female sex, and because a cure can hardly be expected 
much after the twentieth year. Attention to distortion ought not 
to be delayed until a high shoulder or hip shows itself ; these are 
only proofs of a distortion which has already long existed. If, 
however, any thing like distortion is perceived, do not resort to 
the means, so often recommended, of suspension by the arms, or 
use of plasters, which can avail nothing ; and do not expect that 
the dancing-master can remedy ihe evil, which will only increase 
under his lessons. Assistance can be rendered only by a physi- 
cian familiar with these deformities, and who has made himself ac- 
quainted with the general state of body of his patient by a careful 
examination. The cure must not be expected too soon, and the 
orders of the physician must be scrupulously obeyed. Too much 
reliance is not to be placed on machines. 



JOINT. 

Joint, in general, denotes the juncture of two or more things. 
The joints of the human body are called, by anatomists, articula- 
tions, 



CHYME. 421 

The suppleness to which the joints may be brought, by long 
practice, from the time of infancy, is very surprising. Every 
common posture-master shows us a great deal of this ; but one of 
the most wonderful instances of it, was in a person of the name of 
Clark, and famous for it in London, where he was commonly 
known by the name of Clark, the posture-master. This man had 
found the way, by long practice, to distort many of the bones, of 
which nobody before had ever thought it possible to alter the po- 
sition. He had such an absolute command of his muscles and 
joints, that he could almost disjoint his whole body ; so that he 
once imposed on the famous Mullens, by his distortion, in such a 
manner, that he refused to undertake his cure ; but, to the amaze- 
ment of the physician, no sooner had he given over his patient, 
than he saw him restore himself to the figure and condition of a 
proper man, with no distortion about him. 



CHYME. 

Chyme. In animal economy, in the process of digestion, the 
food is subjected to a temperature usually above ninety degrees of 
Fahrenheit. It is mixed with the gastric juice ; a liquor secreted 
by the glands of the stomach, and is made to undergo a moderate 
and alternate pressure, by the contraction of the stomach itself. It 
is thus converted into a soft, uniform mass, of a grayish color, in 
which the previous texture or nature of the aliment can be no lon- 
ger distinguished. The chyme, as is termed this pulpy mass, in- 
to which the food in the stomach is resolved, passes by the pylo- 
rus into the intestinal canal, where it is mixed with the pancreatic 
juice and the bile, and is still exposed to the same temperature 
and alternating pressure. The thinner parts of it are absorbed by 
the slender tubes termed the lacteals. The liquor thus absorbed, 
is of a white color ; it passes through the glands of the mesentery, 
and is at length conveyed by the thoracic duct into the blood. This 
part of the process is termed chyliftcation, and the white liquor 
thus formed, chyle. It is an opaque, milky fluid, mild to the taste. 
By standing for some time, one part of it coagulates ; another por- 



422 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

tion is coagulated by heat. The chyle, after mixing with the 
lymph conveyed by the absorbent vessels, is received into the 
blood, which has returned from the extreme vessels, before this 
passes to the heart. All traces of it are very soon lost in the blood, 
as it mixes perfectly with that fluid. It is probable, however, 
that its nature is not at once completely altered. 

The blood passing from the heart, is conveyed to the lungs, 
where it circulates over a very extensive surface presented to the 
atmospheric air ; with the intervention of a very thin membrane, 
which does not prevent their mutual action. During this circula- 
tion, the blood loses a considerable quantity of carbon : part of 
which, it is probable, is derived from the imperfectly assimilated 
chyle ; as this, originating in part from vegetable matter, must 
contain carbon in larger proportion than even the blood itself. 



LIVER. 

A large gland, which occupies a considerable portion of the 
cavity of the belly, and which secretes the bile. It is a single 
organ of an irregular shape, brownish red color, and, in general, 
is smaller, in proportion, as the individual is more healthy. It 
occupies the right hypocondrium., or space included by the false 
ribs, and a part of the epigastric region, and lies immediately 
under the diaphragm, (midriff,) above the stomach, the transverse 
colon, and right kidney; in front of the vertebral column, the 
aorta, and the inferior vena cava; and behind the cartilaginous 
edge of the chest. The right false ribs are on its right, and the 
spleen on its left. The superior surface is convex, and the infe- 
rior is irregularly convex and concave, which has given rise to the 
division into the right or large lobe, the small or inferior lobe, and 
the left lobe. The right extremity of the liver is lower than the 
left, and is the most bulky part of the organ. The pressure of 
the surrounding organs, and certain folds of the peritoneum, called 
its ligaments, which connect it with the diaphragm, retain the 
liver in its place, leaving it, at the same time, a considerable pow- 
er of changing its relative position. 



BILE. 423 

The organization of the liver is very complicated. Besides its 
peculiar tissue, or parenchyma, the texture of which is unknown, 
it receives a larger number of vessels than any other gland. A 
peculiar venous system, that of the vena portarum, is distributed 
in it. To this must be added, the ramifications of the hepatic 
artery and veins, the nerves which are small, the lymphatic ves- 
sels, the excretory tubes, and a peculiar tissue, enclosed by a 
double membrane, a serous or peritoneal, and cellular one. The 
excretory apparatus of the bile is composed of the hepatic duct, 
w r hich, rising immediately from the liver, unites with the cystic 
duct, which terminates in the gall bladder. The choledochic duct 
is formed by the union of the two preceding, and terminates in the 
duodenum. 



BILE 



A yellowish-green liquid substance, of a bitter taste. Man, 
and many animals have, on the inferior surface of the liver, a 
peculiar bladder, in which the bile, formed by the liver from the 
blood, is preserved. It consists of water, and several other sub- 
stances. The water constitutes the greatest part, and keeps the 
other parts in a state of solution. The remaining ingredients are 
a yellow, very bitter, fusible resin, which contributes most to the 
taste of the bile ; a small portion of natron ; some mineral alkaline 
salts ; some oxygen of iron ; a small quantity of a yellowish sub- 
stance, which is only partly dissolved in the natron; and a con- 
siderable portion of albumen. Thenard and Berzelius have done 
much to determine the ingredients of the bile. 

Its principal use seems to be, to separate the excrement from 
the chyle, after both have been formed, and to produce the evacu- 
ation of the excrements from the body. It is probable that these 
substances would remain mixed together; and they would, per- 
haps, even be partially absorbed together, were it not for the bile, 
which seems to combine with the excrements, and, by this com- 
bination, to facilitate its separation from the chyle, and thus to 
prevent its absorption. Fourcroy supposes that the bile, as soon 



424 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

as it is mixed with the contents of the intestinal canal, suffers a 
decomposition ; that its alkali and saline ingredients combine with 
the chyle, and render it more liquid, while its albumen and resin 
combine with the excrementitious matters, and gradually render 
them less fluid. From the late experiments of Berzelius, on 
feces, it cannot be doubted that the constituents of the bile are to 
be found in the excrementitious matter; so that the ingenious 
theory of Fourcroy is so far probable. The bile also stimulates 
the intestinal canal, and causes it to evacuate its contents sooner 
than it otherwise would do ; for when there is a deficiency of bile, 
the body is constantly costive. Biliary calculi, or gall-stones, are 
sometimes found in the gall-bladders of men and animals. They 
are more rarely met with in the substances and body of the liver. 
Those that are found in the human subject consists, principally, 
of that peculiar substance called, by Fourcroy, adipocire. They 
are of a white, grayish-brown, or black color. The calculi found 
in the gall-bladders of quadrupeds, have been thought to consist 
almost entirely of inspissated bile ; but, though much less compli- 
cated than the corresponding concretions in the human subject, 
they must contain something more than the inspissated fluid, 
since they are insoluble, both in alcohol and water. 



BLOOD. 

Blood is the red fluid contained in the blood-vessels of animal 
bodies. It is found in the mammalia, in birds, in reptiles, and in 
fishes. In the last two classes of animals, the temperature of the 
blood is much lower than in the former, for which reason they are 
distinguished by the name cold-blooded, while the others are term- 
ed warm-blooded animals. Insects and worms, instead of red 
blood, have a juice of a whitish color, which is called white blood. 
In the blood are two different substances, which are separated by 
coagulation— the serum, a fluid like the white of an egg, and a 
thick matter, to which the red color properly belongs, which is 
much heavier than the former, and is called the coagulum. The 
last may be divided again into two different parts ; viz : into the 



BLOOD. 425 

cruor, or that part of the blood which is intrinsically red and co- 
agulable, and lymph, or fibrine, to which the coagulation of the 
blood must be ascribed. The fibrine, in young animals, is much 
whiter than in older and stronger ones. The blood of the latter 
contains much more azote than that of the former. If the nourish- 
ment of animals be changed, we also find an alteration in the con- 
stituent parts of their blood. It is also changed by diseases. In 
animals that are hunted to death, or killed by lightning, the blood 
does not coagulate. The blood of birds is more highly colored, 
and warmer, than that of viviparous animals, and coagulates more 
easily in the air. That of reptiles, and fishes, coagulates with dif- 
ficulty. Aided by magnifying glasses of a strong power, one may 
observe, in examining the blood of the living animal, or in blood 
which is newly drawn, that it consists, especially the cruor, of 
little globular bubbles, the globules of the blood, as they are call- 
ed, the diameter of which amounts to about the three hundredth 
part of a line. In blood that has been drawn some time, although 
this time may be very short, they are not to be discovered. They 
are the effect of the life that pervades the blood. The more ro- 
bust and healthy an animal is, the more globules are perceived. 
They show, as it were, the transition from the formless liquid to 
the original form of the first organized matter. 

The blood is of the greatest importance to the life of an animal, 
and may be considered as the source of life. As long as the body 
is living, the blood is in perpetual motion. When it is taken out 
of the body, a remarkable change soon follows : it begins to co- 
agulate, and then undergoes, first an acetous, and, after a few 
days, a putrid fermentation. All the blood takes its origin from 
the chyle, and deposits, by degrees, the nourishing particles re- 
quisite to the preservation and growth of the body, by a multitude 
of vessels adapted thereto. This is done while it is passing from 
the heart into the remotest parts of the body, and from thence 
back. The circulation of the blood is, as it were, the principle, 
and first condition of life. In its absence, except in cases of faint- 
ing, suffocation, etc., life ceases. The heart, the center of the 
circulation of the blood, has a two-fold motion, of contraction and 
dilatation, which constantly alternate. With the heart, two kinds 
of vessels are connected— the arteries, and the veins. The circu- 
lation of the blood proceeds with an astonishing rapidity : did it 
54 



426 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

flow at an equal rate in a straight line, it would run, in the space 
of one minute, through 149 feet. This swiftness, however, exists 
only in the larger vessels near the heart ; the farther the blood re- 
cedes from the heart, the slower its motion becomes. In a grown 
up person, in good health, we may reckon the mass of blood at 
from twenty-four to thirty pounds. 

Blood-vessels are the tubes or vessels in which the blood cir- 
culates. They are divided into two classes, — arteries, and veins,— 
which have two points of union, or connection : the first, in the 
heart, from which they both originate ; and the other in the mi- 
nute vessels, or net-work, in which they terminate. The arteries 
arise from the heart, and convey the blood to all parts of the body; 
the veins return it to the heart. The arteries distribute throughout 
the body a pure, red blood, for the purpose of nourishment ; while 
the veins return to the heart a dark-colored blood, more or less 
loaded with impurities, and deprived of some of its valuable pro- 
perties. But this is not returned again to the body in the same 
state. For the heart is wisely divided into two portions, ot sides, 
a right and left, one of which receives the impure blood from the 
veins, and sends it to the lungs, to be defecated and freshly sup- 
plied with oxygen, or vital air ; while the other receives the pure 
red blood from the lungs, and circulates it anew through the arte- 
ries. The arteries arise from the left ventricle of the heart, by 
one large trunk, nearly an inch in diameter, which is gradually 
subdivided into smaller ones, as it proceeds towards the limbs, till 
they terminate, at last, in vessels so small as to be almost invisi- 
ble, and in a fine net- work of cells, extending through the whole 
body, into which the blood is poured out, and nutrition, or the in- 
crease of the body, takes place, and from which the residue is 
taken up by the small veins, to be returned to the heart. 

The arteries and veins are widely different in their structure, as 
well as their uses. The former are composed of very strong, 
firm, elastic coats, or membranes, which are four in number. The 
external covering, and the internal lining of the arteries, although 
belonging to different classes of membranes, are both very thin 
and soft. The second coat is very thick, tough, and elastic, being 
that which chiefly gives their peculiar appearance to the arteries. 
The third is formed of fibers, apparently muscular, arranged in 
circular rings around the tube of the vessels, It is well known 



BLOOD, 427 

that the pulse of the heart is felt in the arteries alone, although, in 
the bleeding- of a vein, we sometimes see the blood start as if in 
unison with the beating of the heart. The pulse is produced by 
the wave, or stream of blood, which is driven by the heart through 
the arteries, distending, and slightly elevating them ; after which 
they instantly contract, from their elasticity, and thus force the 
blood into the smaller vessels. The pulse varies in its character, 
with the general state of the health. When arteries are cut, or 
wounded, the firmness of their coats prevents their closing ; and 
hence arises the fatal nature of wounds of large vessels, which 
will remain open till they are tied up, or till death is produced. 

The veins commence in small capillary tubes, in every part of 
the body, and by their gradual union, form large trunks, till they 
at last terminate in two, which pour their contents into the heart. 
Their structure is much less firm than that of the arteries. They 
are very thin and soft, consisting of only two thin coats, or mem- 
branes. The inner, or lining membrane, is frequently doubled 
into folds, forming valves, which nearly close the passage in the 
veins, and thus give very material support to the blood as it is 
moving up in them towards the heart. These valves are not found 
in the veins of the bowels, the lungs, or the head. The number 
of the veins is much greater than that of the arteries, an artery 
being often accompanied by two~ veins. They differ, also, in this : 
that while the arteries are deeply seated in the flesh, to guard them 
from injury, the veins are very frequently superficial, and covered 
only by the skin. The veins, it is well known, are the vessels 
commonly opened in blood-letting, although, in cases which ren- 
der it necessary, a small artery is sometimes divided. There are 
two portions of the venous system, which do not correspond ex- 
actly with our general description; these are, the veins of the 
bowels and of the lungs. The former circulate their blood through 
the liver, before it returns to the heart; and the latter, the pulmo- 
nary veins, convey red blood from the lungs to the heart. It 
should also be mentioned, that the large vein, which brings back the 
blood from the lower parts of the body, receives from the lympha- 
tic and lacteal vessels the chyle from the bowels, which supplies 
the waste of the blood and nourishes the body, and the serous and 
other watery fluids which are taken up by the absorbents in all 
parts of the body. 



428 PHYSIOLOGICAL, 



KIDNEY. 



Kidney, one of the abdominal viscera, consisting of two volu- 
minous glands, the office of which is to secrete the urine from the 
blood. One of these glands lie on the right, and the other on the 
left of the vertebral column, or back-bone. They are both con- 
tained in a fatty, cellular substance, (suet,) and are situated behind 
the peritonaeum, and before the diaphragm and the quadratus lum- 
borum. They are penetrated with blood-vessels and nerves ; are 
of a reddish color, and more consistent than the other glands. An 
external cellular membrane, and an internal fibrous membrane en- 
velope each kidney, which is divided into the cortical substance, 
and the tubulous substance. The former constitutes the exterior 
part of the kidney, and extends between the cones formed by the 
latter. It secretes the urine ; that is, separates its elements from 
the blood, and combines them, while the latter pours it into the 
pelvis, a membranous bag situated at the middle of the kidney, 
from which it is conveyed by the ureter, a membranous tube, into 
the bladder. From the bladder, the urine is evacuated by the 
urethra, a membranous canal passing through the penis. 

The kidneys are not mere niters or sieves, as was anciently 
supposed, and as some modern physiologists have maintained ; 
they are true glands ; that is, a vascular nervous apparatus, hav- 
ing a particular action, for, the production of a particular fluid. 
The kidneys are subject to an inflammation, called nephritis, and 
to a nervous pain, called nephralgia. The kidney sometimes con- 
tains stones, gravel or sand in the pelvis, and also in the cortical 
and tubulous substance, which occasion the most excrutiating 
pain. 

Diseases of the kidneys are generally occasioned by excess in 
eating and drinking, particularly in subjects addicted to venery, or 
accustomed to violent riding, or much walking. Temperance, 
vegetable diet, warm bathing, abstinence from equitation, etc., are 
preventives. 



INTESTINE. 429 



SPLEEN 



Spleen, or milt: a spongy viscus, varying much in form and 
size, situated on the left side, between the eleventh and twelfth 
false ribs, and covered with a simple, firm membrane, arising 
from the peritonaeum. It is of an oval form, and about one-fifth 
smaller than the liver. Its upper surface is connected with the 
diaphragm, and its interior with the stomach. It is convex to- 
wards the ribs, and concave internally, and of a livid color. The 
splenic artery is very large, in proportion to the size of the organ, 
and is divided into numerous small branches, penetrating the sub- 
stance of the spleen. The splenic vein is larger than the artery, 
in the proportion of five to one ; and, by its junction with the 
mesenteric, constitutes the trunk of the vena portde, which car- 
ries the blood into the substance of the liver. From this splenic 
artery, several branches called vasa brevia, go off to the stomach, 
which they supply with blood. 

The uses of the spleen are entirely unknown ; but they appear 
to have some connection with the process of digestion. The 
spleen is subject to inflammation, (sphntis,) and, as often hap- 
pens after agues, the inflammation becomes chronic ; the tumor is 
then commonly called the ague cake, though that name is also 
given to a tumor of the liver, succeeding intermittents. It is also, 
in some cases, too feeble in its action, and then the digestion suf- 
fers. Spleen is also sometimes used to signify the hypochondri- 
asis. 



INTESTINE. 

Intestine, (intestinum, from intus, within.) The convoluted 
membranous tube, that extends from the stomach to the anus, re- 
ceives the ingested food, retains it a certain time, mixes with it 
the bile and pancreatic juice, propels the chyle into the lacteals, 
and covers the feces with mucus, is so called. 

The intestines are situated in the cavity of the abdomen, and 



430 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 

are divided into the small and large, which have, besides their 
size, other circumstances of distinction. The small intestines 
are supplied internally with folds, called valvulx conniventes, 
and have no bands on their external surface, The large intestines 
have no folds internally ; are supplied externally with three strong 
muscular bands, which run parallel upon the surface, and give the 
intestines a saccated appearance ; they have also small fatty ap- 
pendages, called appendicular epiploicse. The first portion of the 
intestinal tube, for about the extent of twelve fingeis' breadth, is 
called the duodenum ; it lies in the epigastric region, makes three 
turnings, and, between the first and second flexure, receives, by 
a common opening, the pancreatic duct, and the ductus communis 
choledochus. It is in this portion of the intestines, that chylifica- 
tion is chiefly performed. The remaining portion of the small 
intestines is distinguished by an imaginary division into the jeju- 
num and ileum. The jejunum, which commences where the 
duodenum ends, is situated in the umbilical region, and is mostly 
found empty ; hence its name : it is everywhere covered with red 
vessels, and, about an hour and a half after a meal, with distended 
lacteals. The ileum occupies the hypogastric region and the pel- 
vis, is of a more pallid color than the former, and terminates by 
a transverse opening into the large intestines, which is called the 
valve of the ileum, valve of the caecum, or the valve of the tulipius. 
The beginning of the large intestines is firmly tied down in the 
right iliac region, and, for the extent of about four fingers' breadth, 
is called the caecum, having adhering to it a worm-like process, 
called the processus cseci vermiformis, or appendicular cseci ver- 
miformis. The great intestine then takes the name of colon, 
ascends towards the liver, passes across the abdomen, under the 
stomach to the left side, where it is contorted like the letter S, and 
descends to the pelvis ; hence it is divided, in this course, into the 
ascending portion, the transverse arch, and the sigmoid flexure. 
When it has reached the pelvis, it is called the rectum, from 
whence it proceeds, in a straight line, to the anus. 

The intestinal canal is composed of three membranes, or coats ; 
a common one from the peritoneum, a muscular coat, and a vil- 
ous coat, the villi being formed of the fine terminations of the 
arteries and nerves, and the origins of lacteals and lymphatics. 
The intestines are connected to the body by the mesentery ; the 



DIAPHRAGM. 431 

duodenum has also a peculiar connecting cellular substance, as 
have likewise the colon and rectum, by whose means the former 
is firmly accreted to the back, the colon to the kidneys, and the 
latter to the os coccygis, and, in women, to the vagina. The re- 
maining portion of the tube is loose in the cavity of the abdomen. 
The arteries of this canal are branches of the superior and inferior 
mesenteric, and the duodenal. The veins evacuate their blood 
into the vena portee. The nerves are branches of the eight pair 
and intercostals. The lacteal vessels, which originate principally 
from the jejunum, proceed to the glands in the mesentery. 



DIAPHRAGM, 

Diaphragm, in anatomy, a large, robust, muscular membrane 
or skin, placed transversely in the trunk, and dividing the chest 
from the belly. In its natural situation, the diaphragm is convex 
on the upper side towards the breast, and concave on its lower 
side towards the belly ; therefore, when its fibers swell and con- 
tract, it must become plain on each side ; and consequently, the 
cavity of the breast is enlarged, to give liberty to the lungs to re- 
cieve air in inspiration; and the stomach and intestines are pressed 
for the distribution of their contents ; hence the use of this mus- 
cle is very considerable. 

It is the principal agent in respiration, particularly in inspira- 
tion ; for, when it is in action, the cavity of the chest is enlarged, 
particularly at the sides, where the lungs are chiefly situated ; 
and, as the lungs must always be contiguous to the inside of the 
chest and upper side of the diaphragm, the air rushes into them, 
in order to fill up the increased space. In expiration it is relaxed, 
and pushed up by the pressure of the abdominal muscles upon the 
viscera of the abdomen ; and, at the same time that they press it 
upwards, they pull down the ribs, by which the cavity of the 
chest is diminished, and the air suddenly pushed out of the lungs. 



432 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 



PELVIS. 

Pelvis ; the lower part of the cavity of the abdomen in men 
and animals. In the infant, it consists of many pieces ; but in 
the adult it is composed of four bones, so united, as not to admit 
of motion on each other, and is open above and below ; wide at 
its upper part, and contracted at its inferior aperture. The out- 
side is roundish : the upper part broader ; the lower, narrower. 
The whole pelvis is movable upon the thighs ; the hip-bone is 
therefore raised, in walking, on that side which is supported by 
the thigh ; on the contrary, it sinks immediately with the trunk 
on that side upon which the foot is raised and advanced. The 
walls of the cavity of the pelvis, are even* smooth, and covered 
with flesh. A line drawn through the middle of the pelvis, di- 
vides it into two parts, one of which is called the upper or larger, 
and the other, the lower or smaller one. In well-formed persons 
of a middle size, the diameter of the great pelvis, or the distance 
of one hip-bone to the other, is in the male sex about nine, in the 
female about eleven inches. The superior size of the female pel- 
vis, is intended to assist gestation and parturition. It is evident 
that the pelvis of men must have, on account of their erect figure, 
a different direction from that of animals. The pelvis contains a 
part of the small intestines, the rectum, the bladder, the internal 
organs of generation, the large nerves and blood-vessels of the 
lower limbs, and many absorbent vessels, with their glands. Its 
office is to give steadiness to the trunk ; to connect it with the 
lower extremities, by a safe and firm junction ; to form the center 
of all the motions of the body, and to give support to the gravid 
uterus. 



UTERUS. 

Uterus, (the womb :) the organ in which the embryo is recei- 
ved from the ovary, to which it becomes adherent so as to receive 
the materials of its growth, and in which it is restrained, for a 



UTERUS. 433 

longer or a shorter time, in various species, exist until its expul- 
sion in the process of parturition. 

A proper uterus belongs only to the mammalia : oviparous gene- 
ration, under various modifications, if found in the other classes ; 
and the female organ is, therefore, reduced to a mere canal (ove- 
duct) for the transmission of the ova. In the human female, the 
uterus is a spongy receptacle, resembling a compressed pear, situ- 
ated in the cavity of the pelvis, above the vagina, and between the 
urinary bladder and rectum. Its form resembles that of an oblong 
pear flattened, with the depressed sides placed towards the ossa 
pubis and sacrum ; but, in the impregnated state, it becomes more 
oval according to the degree of its distension. For the convenience 
of description, and for some practical purposes, the uterus is dis- 
tinguished into three parts: the upper part called the fundus; 
the lower, the servex $ the space below them, the body. The 
uterus is about three inches in length, about two in breadth, at 
the fundus, and one at the cervex. Its thickness is different at the 
fundus and cervex, being, at the former, usually rather less than 
half an inch, and, at the latter, somewhat more ; and this thick- 
ness is preserved throughout pregnancy, chiefly by the enlarge- 
ment of the veins and lymphatics, there being a smaller size of the 
arteries ; but there is so great a variety, in size and dimensions, 
of the uterus in different women, independent of the state of vir- 
ginity, marriage, or pregnancy, as to prevent any very accurate 
mensuration. The internal surface of the uterus is corrugated in 
a beautiful manner ; but the rugue or wrinkles, which are longitu- 
dinal, lessen as they advance into the uterus, the fundus of which 
is smooth. In the intervals betweeu the rugue are small orifices 
like those in the vagina, which discharge a mucus, serving, be- 
sides, other purposes, that of closing the os uteri very curiously 
and perfectly during pregnancy. The substance of uterus, which 
is very firm, is composed of arteries, veins, lymphatics, nerves, 
and muscular fibers, curiously interwoven and connected together 
by cellular membranes. The use of the womb is for menstruation, 
conception, nutrition of the foetus, and parturition. It is liable to 
many diseases, the principal of which are retroversion and falling 
down, hydatids, dropsy of the uterus, moles, polypus, ulceration, 
cancer, etc. 
55 



434 PHYSIOLOGICAL. 



EMBRYO. 



Embryo ; the first rudiments of the animal in the womb, before 
the several members are distinctly formed, after which it is called 
the foetus. The time necessary to produce this is different 
in different species. The human embryo is visible in three 
weeks : at the end of four, a pulsation is perceptible, which is 
known to be the beating of the heart. It is now about the size of 
an ant or fly, and retains its transparency, which, however, gradu- 
ally diminishes, and, at the end of two months, disappears ; the 
eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and all the members, are distinguishable ; 
it is as large as a bee. In three months, every thing becomes 
more distinct ; the sex becomes evident, and the foetus grows until 
it is ushered into the world as a child. 



OVARY. 

The ovaria are two flat oval bodies, about one inch in length, 
and rather more than half in breadth and thickness, suspended in 
the broad ligaments about the distance of one inch from the uterus 
behind, and a little below the fallopian tubes. They include a 
number of vesicles or ova, to the amount of twelve to twenty, of 
different sizes, joined to the internal surface of the ovaria by cel- 
lular threads or pedicles, and contain a fluid which has the ap- 
pearance of thin lymph. The ovaria prepare whatever the female 
supplies towards the formation of the fcetus : this is proved by the 
operation of spaying, which consists in the extirpation of the 
ovaria ; after which the animal not only loses the power of con- 
ceiving, but desire is forever extinguished. These vesicles have 
been generally regarded as little eggs which detach themselves 
from the ovary after fecundation, and are carried into the cavity of 
the womb by the fallopian tubes. 



PART IV. 

MISCELLANEOUS 



CHAP. I 



C H I M I S T R Y. 

By this name, the etymology of which is uncertain, we under- 
stand the science which teaches the nature of bodies, or rather 
the mutual agencies of the elements whereof they are composed, 
with a view to determine the nature, proportions, and mode of 
combination of these elements, in all bodies. Natural Philoso- 
phy, or physics, examines the reciprocal influence of matter, in 
masses. Chimistry treats of the mutual action of the integrant 
parts. In the former, the phenomena are produced by the gene- 
ral attraction or repulsion of bodies ; in the latter, by minute com- 
bination or decomposition. With our present knowledge of mat- 
ter, and its laws, we cannot separate physics entirely from chi- 
mistry : one science cannot be studied without the other. Those 
artisans who first discovered the means of melting, combining and 
moulding metals ; those physicians who first extracted vegetable 
substances from plants, and observed their properties, were the 
first chimists. Instead, however, of observing a philosophical 
method in their examinations ; instead of passing from what, was 
known, to what was unknown, early inquirers suffered themselves 
to be led astray by astrological dreams, the fables of the philoso- 



436 MISCELLANEOUS. 

pher's stone, 'and a hundred other absurdities. Until the year 
1650, we find little worthy of notice in the history of chimistry. 
Rhazis, Roger Bacon, Arnaud de Villeneuve, Basilius Valentin, 
Paracelsus, Agricola, etc., observed some of the properties of iron, 
quicksilver, antimony, ammoniac and saltpetre. They discover- 
ed sulphuric, nitric, and other acids ; the mode of rectifying spirits; 
preparing opium, jalap, etc., and of purifying the alkalies. Glau- 
ber was distinguished for the accuracy of his observations. He 
endeavored to improve certain instruments ; advised operators 
not to throw away, as useless, any residuum in performing expe- 
riments ; discovered the salt which is called, from him, Glauber's 
salts, etc. 

Such isolated discoveries, however, could not form a complete 
science. Stahl appeared, and, although his theory was unsatis- 
factory and entirely gratuitous ; and, as later observations have 
proved, erroneous ; yet he laid the foundations of a regular sci- 
ence. He was himself much indebted to the celebrated Becher, 
whose views he corrected and expanded. He was sensible that 
the greater part of chimical phenomena might depend on a general 
cause, or, at least, on a few general principles, to which all com- 
binations must necessarily be referred. He supposed that bodies 
contained a combustible element, which inflammable bodies lost 
by being burned, and which they could regain from other bodies 
more inflammable. This element he called phlogiston. The 
establishing of a hypothesis, which connected almost all pheno- 
mena with each other, was an important step. Boerhaave adopt- 
ed Stahl's system, and contributed much to its general diffusion. 
He is the founder of philosophical chimistry, which he enriched 
with numerous experiments respecting fire, the caloric of light, 
etc. Although the principles on which these philosophers pro- 
ceeded were false, yet the science was much advanced by their 
labors. It was reserved for Black, Priestley, Cavendish and La- 
voisier, to overturn Stahl's system, and substitute the pneumatic, 
or antiphlogistic theory, the best history of which is to be found 
in Fourcroy's Philosophic Chimique, and his Systeme des Con- 
noissances Chimiqites. 

As soon as the composition of the atmospheric air was known, 
it was observed that combustible bodies, burning in contact with 
it, instead of losing one of their elements, absorbed one of the 



CHIMISTRY. 337 

component parts of the atmosphere, and were thus increased in 
weight. This component part has received the name of oxygen, 
because many of the combustible bodies are changed by its ab- 
sorption into acids. Oxygen now took the place of phlogiston, 
and explained the difficulties which beset the phlogistic theory. 
Light and unity were introduced into chimistry by the new tech- 
nical nomenclature adopted in 1787, through the aid of which all 
the individual facts are easily retained in the memory, since the 
name of each body is expressive either of its composition or of 
its characteristic property. Twelve or fifteen terms have been 
found sufficient for creating a methodical language, in which there 
is no inexpressive term, and which, by changing the final syllables 
of certain names, indicates the change which takes place in the 
composition of bodies. Lavoiseur, Fourcroy, Guyton de Mor- 
veau, and Berthollet, were the authors of this felicitous innovation. 
The chimical terminalogy admits of nothing arbitrary, and is 
adapted not only to express phenomena now known, but also any 
which may be hereafter discovered. It furnishes the first exam- 
ple of a systematic and analytic language. 

The commencement of the nineteenth century forms a brilliant 
era in the progress of chimistry. The galvanic apparatus of Volta 
presented to the experimenter an agent unequaled in the variety, 
extent, and energy of its action upon common matter. With this 
apparatus, Sir Humphrey Davy commenced a series of researches, 
which resulted in a greater modification of the science than it had 
ever before experienced. He proved that the fixed alkalies were 
composed of oxygen with metallic bases, and thus led the way to 
the discovery of an analogous constitution in the alkaline earths. 
To the same individual the science is principally indebted for the 
establishment of the simple nature of chlorine, and for the inves- 
tigation of iodine. His researches concerning the nature of flame, 
resulting as they did in the invention of the miner's safety-lamp, 
afforded to mankind a new demonstration of the utility of philo- 
sophy in contributing to the improvement of the arts of life. But 
that department of chimistry, which has of late been most suc- 
cessfully investigated, relates to the definite proportions in which 
bodies unite to form the various chimical compounds. To esta- 
blish the conclusions which have been arrived at, a multitude of 
exact analyses were requisite. These were accomplished princi- 



438 MISCELLANEOUS. 

pally through the labors of Vauquelin, Gay Lussac, Thenard, 
Berzelius, and Thompson; and have terminated in the establish- 
ment of the general truth, that when bodies combine chimically 
and intimately with each other, they combine in determinate quan- 
tities ; and that, when one body unites with another in more than 
one proportion, the ratio of the increase may be expressed by 
some simple multiple of the first proportion. Upon this general 
fact, Doctor Wollaston constructed the logametric scale of chimical 
equivalents — an invention which has contributed, in an eminent 
degree, to render our knowledge of the constitution of compounds 
precise, by introducing the sure basis of arithmetical relations, 
which, when fixed with accuracy, are not susceptible of change. 
The doctrine of definite proportions may, therefore, be regarded 
as having communicated to the principles of chimistry that cer- 
tainty which has long been considered as peculiar to the mathe- 
matical sciences ; and it is in the development of these important 
relations, that the advancement of the science has been most con- 
spicuous. Among the still more recent improvements in chimis- 
try, may be cited the discovery of Dobereinere, relating to the 
power of platinum in effecting the combination of oxygen and 
hydrogen ; the researches of Faraday, in which many of the gases 
have been reduced to the liquid form ; the discovery of new com- 
pounds of carbon and hydrogen, and the singular fact, which they 
exhibit, of different combinations being established in the same 
proportions ; the elucidation of the new compounds of chlorine 
with carbon ; of the peroxide of chlorine ; the hydriodide of car- 
bon ; the perchloric, iodous, fulminic, and other acids ; the disco- 
very of the real bases of silex and zircon, and that of the new 
principle, brome : add to these, that our knowledge of light and 
electricity has been greatly enlarged, and that the phenomena of 
electro-magnetism are altogether new, and it becomes strikingly 
obvious that chimistry is still a progressive science. " Nor can 
any limits be placed to the extent of its investigations. Its ana- 
lysis is indefinite ; its completion will have been attained only 
when the real elements of bodies shall have been detected, and all 
their modifications traced : but how remote this may be from its 
present state, we cannot judge. Nor can we, from our present 
knowledge, form any just conception of the stages of discovery 
through which it has yet to pass." 



CHIMISTRY. 439 

Chimistry has two ways of becoming acquainted with the in- 
ternal structure of bodies, analysis and synthesis. By the for- 
mer, it separates the component parts of a compound body ; by 
the latter, it combines the separated element, so as to form anew 
the decomposed body, and to prove the correctness of the former 
process. These methods depend on a complete knowledge of the 
two powers, by which all bodies in nature are set in motion, viz., 
attraction and repulsion. Attempts have been made to distinguish 
the attraction of elementary particles from planetary attraction — 
the former being designated a chimical affinity. But nature has 
only one controlling principle of attraction. The alternate play 
of attraction and repulsion, produces a great number of sensible 
phenomena, and a multitude of combinations, which change the 
nature and properties of bodies. The study of these phenomena, 
and the knowledge of these combinations, appertain to the depart- 
ment of chimistry. The history of a body must always precede 
its analysis. The mere examination of its form, its color, its 
weight, and the place where it was found, etc., is often sufficient, 
by a comparison, to lead to a knowledge of its chimical proper- 
ties. 

There is no science more extensive than ehimistry, nor is it 
possible for one person to embrace it in its whole compass. To 
facilitate its study, it is considered in different points of view, and 
thrown into divisions and subdivisions, so that a person may de- 
vote himself to one department of it, although the method of ob- 
serving, analyzing, and combining is the same in all ; and although 
all the phenomena must be explained by the general theory, and 
referred to certain laws, of which a previous knowledge is requi- 
site. These laws constitute what is called philosophical chimis- 
try, which explains what is meant by the affinity of aggregation 
or cohesion, by the affinity of composition, or chimical affinity. 
It treats of the phenomena of solution, saturation, crystalization, 
ebullition, fusion, nutralization. Chimical processes, by chang- 
ing or modifying the properties of bodies, suggest to the observer 
important considerations on the changes of form, density, and 
temperature. Philosophical chimistry weighs these considera- 
tions. It shows, further, that affinity may be exerted, 1st, be- 
tween two simple bodies ; 2d, between a simple and a compound 
one ; 3d, between compound bodies ; and, establishing the princi- 



440 MISCELLANEOUS. 

pie, that the same body has not the same affinity for all others, 
but attracts them unequally, it shows us the laws which deter- 
mine this preference, and the circumstances which modify it ; such 
as cohesion, mass, insolubility, elasticity, and temperature. It 
measures the degree of affinity, whether of simple or compound 
bodies. It observes the circumstances which aid or obstruct the 
play of attraction, and shows that two bodies will not act upon 
each other, unless one of them, at least, is in a fluid state ; that 
bodies, even in a state of solution, act upon each other only at 
imperceptible distances ; that two bodies which have no percepti- 
ble affinity, may be made to combine, by the interposition of a 
third ; and, finally, that the peculiar properties of bodies are des- 
troyed by their combination, and that the compound possesses 
continually new properties. Proceeding from these principles to 
the examination of bodies themselves, philosophical chimistry 
considers the effects of light, heat and electricity; the nature of 
the simple and compound inflammable bodies ; of air and water ; 
the composition and decomposition of acids ; the nature and pro- 
perties of the salts ; their relation to the acids ; the calcination, 
solution, and alloying of metals ; the composition and nature of 
plants ; the characteristics of the immediate elements of vegetable 
substances; the phenomena of animalization ; the properties of 
animal compound ; and the decay of organic substances. This is 
the sphere of philosophical chimistry, while it confines itself to 
general views. 

According to the application of these general views, chimistry 
is divided into seven or eight branches, which we have yet briefly 
to survey. The study of the great phenomena which are observed 
in the atmosphere, and which are called meteors, constitutes mete- 
orological chimistry. This explains the formation of the clouds, 
rain, mist, snow, water-spouts ; the state of the atmosphere in re- 
lation to the hygrometer, barometer, and thermometer ; the nature 
of the aurora borealis, and meteoric stones ; in short, all the chimi- 
cal processes going on above the surface of the earth. 

Geological chimistry treats principally of great combinations 
of nature which produce volcanoes, veins of metals, beds of mine- 
ral coal, basalt, mineral waters, the enormous masses of salt and 
lime, the saltpetre in the bed of the Indies, the natron of the lakes 
of Egypt, the borax of the lakes of Thibet. The geological chi- 



CHIMISTRY. 441 

mist endeavors to discover and explain the causes of deluges, earth- 
quakes, the decrease of the waters on the globe, the influence of 
climate on the color of animals and plants, on the smell of flowers 
and the tastes of fruits. In these general views, he needs the aid 
of natural philosophy and physic. 

Chimistry, in its application to natural history, is divided in the 
same manner. There is a chimistry of the mineral kingdom which 
comprises metallurgy and assaying, and the examinations of all 
inorganic substances, as stones, salts, metals, bitumen, waters, a 
chimistry of the vegetable kingdom which analyzes plants and their 
immediate products ; and a chimistry of the animal kingdom, which 
studies all substances derived from living or dead animals. This 
last is subdivided into physiological chimistry, which considers the 
changes produced in animal substances by the operation of life ; 
pathological chimistry, which traces the changes produced by dis- 
ease or organic defects ; therapeutic or pharmaceutic chimistry, 
which traces the nature and preparation of medicines, shows the 
means of preserving them, and exposes the pretensions of empirics ; 
hygelic chimistry, which acquaints us with the means of con- 
structing and arranging our habitations so as to render them heal- 
thy, of examining the air which we must breathe in them, guard- 
ing against contagious diseases, choosing wholesome food, dis- 
covering the influence of occupation, fashion, and custom, on the 
health. 

Agricultural chimistry treats of the nature of plants and soils, 
and the laws of production. Sir Humphrey Davy first gave it the 
character of a science. It treats : first, of the general powers of 
matter which have any influence on vegetation, of gravity, cohe- 
sion, chimical affinity, heat, light, electricity, the elements of mat- 
ter, especially such as are found in vegetables, and the laws of 
their composition and arrangements ; second, of the organization 
of plants — their structure, the chimical composition of their organs, 
and the substance found in them, etc.; third, of soils; fourth, of 
the nature of manure. 

Chimistry, finally, exerts an influence on the economy of do- 
mestic life, and on the arts. It simplifies and regulates the daily 
offices of the house-keeper ; renders our dwellings healthy, warm, 
light ; assists us in preparing clothing, food, drink, etc. : it Leaches 
the best way of making bread ; preparing and purifying oils ; of 
56 



442 MISCELLANEOUS. 

constructing bake-houses, ovens, and hearths ; of bleaching and 
washing all kinds of stuff; of producing artificial cold, etc. The 
application of chimistry to the arts and manufactures is, however, 
still more important and extensive. Here its aim is to discover, 
improve, extend, perfect, and simplify the processes by which the 
objects to be prepared may be adapted to our wants. 

We close our remarks with the observation that a knowledge of 
chimistry may frequently be useful in judicial proceedings by 
bringing crime to light in cases of poisoning, counterfeiting coins, 
and written documents, etc. 

Chimical Classification and Nomenclature. — The chimist 
finds a small number of bodies, from which only one kind of mat- 
ter can be obtained, in the present state of his knowledge, and by 
the instruments and agents which he now has at his disposal. On 
the other hand, there is a large number of bodies from which he 
obtains several kinds of matter. The former, he calls elementary 
or simple bodies; the latter, corn-pound bodies. The number of 
simple bodies now known is fifty-three ; that of the com- 
pound bodies is much greater, and might, at first, appear to be in- 
finite, since not only a difference of elements, but even a difference 
of the proportions in which they are combined, makes an essential 
difference in the properties of the compound. It is, however, 
much less than would be supposed, and even less than the number 
of possible combinations of simple bodies. Twelve of the simple 
bodies are oxygen, iodine, chlorine, bromine, fluorine, hydrogen, 
boron, carbon, phosphorus, sulphur, azote, and selenium ; and 
forty-one are metals. The five first are called supporters of com- 
bustion, because they combine with the others, producing a dis- 
engagement of heat, light, and acidifying principles, and, also, 
because they are capable of producing acids by a similar combina- 
tion. The forty-eight others are called simple combustibles, be- 
cause their union with the supporters of combustion, above men- 
tioned, is a real combustion. 

Compound bodies, as has been observed, are not so numerous 
as might be supposed. They result, 1st. From the combination 
of oxygen, or one of the other simple supporters of combustion, 
with one of the simple combustibles ; such are the acids. 2nd. 
From that of a simple body combined, with oxygen, with other 
similar compounds ; such are the salts. 3d. From that of two, 



CHIMISTRY. 443 

three, rarely four simple combustibles, with one another. 4th. 
From that of oxygen and hydrogen and carbon, forming vegeta : 
ble matter. 5th. From that of oxygen with hydrogen, carbon 
and azote, forming animal matter. Combustibles combined with 
the simple supporters of combustion, are sometimes called burned 
bodies ; from the number of their elements, they are also called 
binary compounds. When their taste is acid, and they have the 
property of reddening vegetable blues, they are termed acids. If 
they are not acid to the taste, and have the property of turning 
blue what has been reddened by acids, they are distinguished by 
the termination ide, as oxide, chloride, etc. If only one of the 
latter class is formed— that is, if the supporter of combustion will 
unite with the combustible in only one proportion, we call this 
compound simply the oxide, chloride, etc. of the combustibles, as 
oxide of carbon. If they unite in several proportions, we call the 
first, or that which contains the smallest proportion of oxygen, 
etc., protoxide, etc, ; the second, deutoxide ; the third, trioxide. 
The highest is all called peroxide. So, if only one acid is formed, 
we designate it by the name of the combustible, with the termi- 
nation ic. Thus carbon with oxygen forms carbonic acid. If 
several are formed, that which contains the larger proportion of 
the acidifying principle, is designated by the termination ic, and 
that which contains less, by the termination ous. Thus sulphur 
forms sulphuric acid and sulphurous acid. If there are still in- 
termediate compounds, we annex hypo, to designate a lower de- 
gree of acidity. Thus we should have sulphuric, hypo sulphuric; 
sulphurous, hypo sulphur vus. In the acids and oxides, chlorides, 
etc., the combustible is called the base. When the base is the 
same, the peroxide, etc. always contains less oxygen, etc., than 
the lowest acid. For the names of compounds of two binary 
burnt bodies, no rules have been adopted to express the union of 
two oxides, two acids, or an acid with a non-metallic oxide. But 
those formed of acids and metallic oxides are called salts, and 
their individual names are formed by changing the termination of 
the acid, and placing it before the name of the metal ; the termi- 
nation ous is changed into ite, and ic into ate; sulphurous acid, 
with the oxide of tin, would form sulphite of tin ; sulphuric acid 
and tin, sulphate of tin. If the same acid combines with more 
than one oxide of the same metal, then we prefix the characteris- 



444 MISCELLANEOUS. 

tic of the oxide to the name of the acid ; thus sulphuric acid, com- 
bined with the protoxide of iron, forms the protosulphate ; with 
the peroxide, the persulphate of iron. Other substances have 
also the property of uniting with acids, neutralizing them, and 
forming compounds analogous to salts. There are no gene- 
ral rules for the names of these compounds, but the sub- 
stances themselves are called salifable, bases. The rules of no- 
menclature, in regard to the combination of the combustibles, vary. 
1st. If the constituents are metals, they form alloys. 2nd. If 
the components are solid or liquid, and formed of a metallic and a 
non-metallic combustible, we give to the latter the termination 
uret ; as carbon with iron forms carburet of iron. If both are 
non-metallic, the termination uret may be attached to either; as, 
phosphuret of sulphur, or sulphuret of phosphorus. 3d. If the 
compound is gaseous, we name the gas, or one of the gases, if it 
is composed of two, and join the other component as an adjec- 
tive, as phosphuretted hydrogen. 



CHAP. II 



ACIDS. 



Acids: a class of compound bodies, which have the following 
characteristic properties : • — The greater part of them have a sour 
taste, and most of them are very corrosive. They change the 
vegetable blues to red, are soluble in water, and have great affinity 
for the alkaline, earthy, and metallic oxides, with which they form 
neutral salts. Some acids have no sour taste, but their affinity for 
the three classes of bodies above mentioned, is always character- 
istic. If a few drops of sulphuric acid, nitric acid, or muriatic 
acid, be added to a solution of blue litmus, it becomes red. The 
same is the case if they be added to other vegetable colors, as vio- 
let, etc. Hence these colors are employed as tests of acids ; that 
is, to ascertain when they exist in any substance. We may add 
the infusion to the fluid in which we are trying to detect an acid, 
but a more convenient method is, to spread it on paper, and allow 
it to dry. If a strip of this be put into a fluid in which there is 
an acid, it instantly becomes red. Some acids appear only in a 
fluid state— either gaseous, as carbonic acid ; or liquid, as sulphu- 
ric acid : others appear in a solid form, or crystalized, as benzoic 
acid, boracic acid, etc. 

All acids are compound bodies, and are sometimes divided into 
four classes, the three first of which are compounded with oxy- 
gen ; the fourth class consists of those which, at least according 
to some modern chimists, have no oxygen; c. g., sulphuretted 
hydrogen. The first class of acids is compounded with oxygen 
and one other body ; the second class comprises the acids com- 
pounded of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen ; the third class con- 
sists of those acids which contain nitrogen, in addition to the three 
substances -above mentioned. The ancient chimists were acquaint- 
ed with but few of the acids now known; they divided them, ac- 



446 MISCELLANEOUS. 

cording to the kingdoms of nature, into mineral, vegetable, and 
animal acids. This division, however, cannot be retained, as there 
are some acids which appear in all the kingdoms; e. g., phospho- 
ric acid. If the same radical be compounded with different pro- 
portions of the acidifying principle, forming different acids, the 
most powerful acid receives a name from the radical, terminating 
in ic; the weaker, a name formed in the same manner, in ous : 
e. g., sulphurous and sulphuric acid, nitrous and nitric acid; and, 
where there are intermediate compounds, the term hypo is occa- 
sionally added to the compound next above it in point of acidity : 
thus, /z^osulphuric acid, signifies an intermediate acid between 
sulphurous and sulphuric acids ; /r^pophosphorous acid, an acid 
containing less oxygen than the phosphorous acid. 



ALKALIES. 

Alkali : in chimistry, from the Arabian kali, the name of a 
plant from the ashes of which one species of alkali can be ex- 
tracted. The substances that are met with under the denomina- 
tion of alkaline, are possessed of certain peculiar properties ; they 
are mainly characterized, however, by a power of combining with 
acids, in such a manner as to impair the activity of the latter ; so 
that alkalies, as chimical agents, are distinguished by properties 
the reverse of acids ; and alkalies are, therefore, generally consid- 
ered as antagonist substances. 

Besides the power of neutralizing acids, and thereby forming 
certain saline substances, the alkalies are further distinguished by 
the following properties: 1st, they have an acrid taste and corro- 
sive power when applied to some substances, thus proving caustic 
to the skin and tongue ; 2d, they change vegetable blue to green, 
and red to purple, and yellow to a reddish-brown; 3d, they are 
almost indefinitely soluble in water— that is, they combine with it 
in every proportion; 4th, they unite with oils and fats, and form 
by this union the well known compound called soap. 

There is another class of substances which have a strong analo- 
gy to alkalies, especially in the particular of opposition to acids; 
namely, the earths. Some of these, indeed, have been classed by 
Fourcroy among the alkalies ; but they have been kept separate 



ALBUMEN. 447 

by others, on the ground that the analogy between them is far 
from amounting to an identity of properties. The true alkalies 
have been arranged, by a modern chimist, into three classes: 1st, 
those which consist of a metallic basis, combined with oxygen — 
these are three in number; potash, soda, and lithia: 2d, those 
which contain no oxygen ; namely, ammonia : 3d, those contain- 
ing oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon ; in this class are placed aco- 
nita, atropia, brucia, cicuta, datura, delphia, hyosciama, morphia, 
and strychnia. It is supposed that the vegetable alkalies may be 
found to be as numerous as the vegetable acids. The original dis- 
tribution of alkaline substances was into volatile and fixed, the 
volatile alkali being known under the name of ammonia ; while, 
of the two fixed kinds, one was called potash, or vegetable, be- 
cause procured from the ashes of vegetables generally ; the other, 
soda, or mineral, on account of its having been principally ob- 
tained from the incineration of marine plants. 



ALBUMEN. 

Albumen, in physiology, exists nearly pure in the white of 
eggs. As thus procured, it is a glareous fluid, with very little 
taste. When kept for some time exposed to air, it purines, but, 
when spread in thin layers and dried, it does not undergo any 
changes. When heated to about 165° Fahr., it coagulates, and 
its properties are entirely changed, it is soluble in cold water, 
and is separated, in its coagulated state, by hot water, if the quan- 
tity of fluid be not great ; but, if the water be about ten times as 
much in amount as the albumen, there is no coagulation. Hence 
we cannot dissolve it in warm water, for when put into it, it is in- 
stantly coagulated. It is also coagulated by acid. 

It exists in different parts of animals, as cartilages, bones, horns, 
hoofs, flesh, the membranous parts, and, in considerable quantity, 
in blood, from which it is usually procured, when required in the 
arts. From the property which it possesses, of being coagulated 
by heat, it is employed for clarifying fluids, as in the refining of 
sugar, and many other processes. When required in a large 
quantity, bullock's blood is used. When this, or the white of 
e£gs, is put into a warm fluid, its albumen is coagulated, and en- 



448 MISCELLANEOUS. 

tangles the impurities, and, as the scum rises, it is removed. Al- 
bumen acts in the same way, also, in clarifying spirituous fluids. 
When, for instance, the white of an egg is added to wine, or to 
any cordial, the alcohol coagulates it, and the coagulum entangles 
the impurities, and carries them to the bottom. Both gelatin and 
albumen exist in flesh, and, as the former is soluble in warm water, 
hence the difference in the nutritious quality of butcher's meat, 
according to the mode of cooking it; when, for instance, meat is 
boiled, the greater part of the gelatin is extracted, and retained 
by the soup ; when, on the contrary, it is roasted, the gelatinous 
matter is not removed ; so that, roasted meat contains both gelatin 
and albumen, and should, therefore, be more nutritious than the 
other. By the analysis of Gay Sussac and Thenard, 100 parts of 
albumen are formed of 52.883 carbon, 23.872 oxygen, 7.540 hy- 
drogen, 15.705 nitrogen. The negative pole of a voltaic pile in 
high activity, coagulates albumen. Orflla has found the white of 
eggs to be the best antidote to the poisonous effects of corrosive 
sublimate on the human stomach. 



BENZOIN. 

Benzoin is a solid, fragile, vegetable substance, of a reddish 
brown color. In commerce, two varieties are distinguished, viz., 
the common and the amygdaloidal, the latter containing whitish 
tears, of an almond shape, diffused through its substance. It is 
imported from Samatra, Siam, and Java, and is found, also, in 
South America. Benzoin is obtained from the tree called styrax 
benzoin, and perhaps from some others. On making incisions 
into the bark, it flows out in the form of a balsamic juice,, having 
a pungent taste, and an agreeable odor. The pure balsam con- 
sists of two principal substances, viz., a resin, and a peculiar acid 
termed benzoic, which is procured from the mass, by sublimation. 
It is soluble in water. This acid is found, also, as a constituent 
principle in storx, and the balsams of Tolu and Peru. It exists 
in the urine of cows, camels, and even of young children. It is 
sometimes found in a crystaline form on the pods of the vanilla. 
Benzion is not soluble in water, but is readily dissolved in alcohol, 
by the aid of a gentle heat. The tincture thus made is used in 



CAUSTIC POTASSA. CAUSTUS. 449 

pharmacy. A small quantity of this tincture, dropped into water, 
forms a white, milky fluid, which is used in France as a cosmetic, 
under the name of lait virginal. The gum is a principal ingredi- 
ent of the common court plaster. The acid, as well as the gum, 
is employed in medicine ; they are stimulating, and act more par- 
ticularly upon the pulmonary system ; whence they are used in 
asthma, and chronic catarrh. 



CAUSTIC POTASSA. 

Caustic potassa : impure hydrate of protoxide of potassium ; 
caustic kali with lime ; common caustic. This is seen in flat, ir- 
regular, brittle pieces, or in round sticks, like the nitrate of silver; 
of a grayish white, sometimes reddish ; of a savor extremely 
caustic, and a slight odor sui generis. This substance is extreme- 
ly caustic; it decomposes quickly the parts with which it is put 
in contact, and leaves on the skin a soft, grayish eschar, which 
comes off slowly. Taken internally, it acts in the same way as 
all corrosive poisons ; it has, nevertheless, been administered, in 
very dilute solutions, as an antacid, diuretic, and lithontriptic. It 
has succeeded in the gravel, in nephritic colics, and other af- 
fections, proceeding from superabundance of uric acid. It has 
been recommended, likewise, in the treatment of scrofula, and in 
some diseases of the skin, such as leprosy, etc. This solution, 
even when very diluted, soon irritates the stomach, and brings on 
anoreaxia, which prevents it from being used for any length of 
time. 

CAUSTUS. 

The name of caustic is given to substances, which, by their 
chimical action disorganize the parts of the body with which they 
are put in contact. They are called, likewise, potential cauteries, 
to distinguish them from the fire called actual cautery. 

Caustics, in general, act by decomposing chimically the tissues 
to which they are applied, by depriving them of life, and produc- 
ing a real local and circumscribed gangrene, called eschar, or 
57 



450 MISCELLANEOUS. 

slough. Those, the action of which is powerful, for instance, 
caustic potassa, concentrated sulphuric acid, etc., produce these 
phenomena with such rapidity, that inflammation takes place on- 
ly after the formation of the eschar ; whilst, on the contrary, in- 
flammation is the immediate consequence of the less energetic 
caustics. In both cases, suppuration occurs sooner or later, and 
separates the disorganized from the surrounding parts. Almost 
all the substances used as caustics have only a local action ; some, 
however, are capable of being absorbed, and of exercising a dele- 
terious action on the economy in general ; arsenical preparations 
are an instance of it. 

The employment of caustics is now confined to a small num- 
ber of cases. The actual cautery, and the knife, are, in general, 
preferred to them. They are used, principally, in order to estab- 
lish issues, particularly in cases in which it is necessary to pro- 
duce a powerful derivation ; to stop the progress of certain gan- 
grenous affections, such as anthrax ; to open certain indolent ab- 
scesses ; to change the mode of vitality of the skin, in some can- 
cerous or heapetic ulcers ; to destroy the excrescences of wounds 
or proud flesh ; and, finally, to prevent the absorption of the virus, 
deposited at the surface of poisoned wounds. 

ESSENTIAL OILS. 



This name is applied to those volatile fluids usually obtained 
from aromatic plants, by subjecting them to distillation with water. 
The oil is volatilized with the aqueous vapor, and is easily con- 
densed ; a small portion of it is retained in solution by the water ; 
but the greater part separates, and is obtained pure from the diffe- 
rence in their specific gravity. In some instances, as, for example, 
in the rind of the orange and lemon, the oil exists in distinct ve- 
sicles, and may be obtained by expression. 

The principal volatile or essential oils are those of turpentine, 
anniseed,, nutmeg, lavender, cloves, caraway, peppermint, sassa- 
fras, camomile, and citron. The taste of these oils is acrid and 
burning, and their odor very pungent, generally resembling the 
taste and smell of the vegetables affording them. They are gene- 
rally fluid, and remain so even at a low temperature ; but some 



DECOMPOSITION, CHIMICAL. 451 

congeal at a very moderate degree of cold, and others are naturally 
concrete. They are extremely volatile, and boil at a temperature 
considerably above that of boiling water : thus oil of turpentine 
boils at 315°. They are very soluble in strong alcohol: but, on 
adding water largely, are precipitated ; they are soluble in ether, 
in like manner, but do not form soaps with the alkalies, by which 
they are distinguished from the fixed oils. They are readily in- 
flamed by strong nitric acid, especially with the precaution of ad- 
ding a little sulphuric acid to render the former more concentrated. 
Exposed to the action of the air, they undergo an alteration in 
consequence of the absorption of oxygen, become thickened, and 
gradually change into a solid matter resembling the true resins. 
When digested with sulphur, they unite with it, forming what 
have been called balsams of sulphur. 

One of the most useful and abundant of the essential oils is that 
of turpentine, commonly called spirit of turpentine. It is obtain- 
ed by distilling turpentine and water, in due proportions, from a 
copper alembic. It is perfectly limpid and colorles, has a strong 
smell, a bitterish taste, boils at 316°, and is extremely inflam- 
mable. It is the solvent employed in making a variety of var- 
nishes ; but, for purposes of nicety, it requires to be rectified by 
a second distillation. 

In general, the volatile oils are used in the practice of medicine, 
or as perfumes. Those applied to the latter use, as the essence of 
rose, of jasmine, violet, etc., are possessed of a more feeble odor, 
and, being obtained from the flowers of their respective plants, re- 
quire much care in their preparation. This is done by spreading 
upon white wool, impregnated with olive oil, the petals of the 
flowers, and leaving them for some time, covered over with a 
woollen cloth, upon which flowers are also scattered ; the flowers 
are renewed from time to time, until the olive oil employed ap- 
pears to be saturated with the oil of the flowers, when this last is 
separated by digesting the wool in alcohol. 



DECOMPOSITION, CHIMICAL. 

Decomposition, Chimical, is the resolution of a compound sub- 
stance into its constituent parts, which are exhibited either sepa- 



452 MISCELLANEOUS. 

rate, or in some new combination. The compounds which are 
spontaneously formed by organic bodies, both vegetable and ani- 
mal, are of a different nature from those which exist in unorganiz- 
ed matter. They are the peculiar results of vital process, and 
neither their structure nor composition can be imitated by art. 
During life, the elements of organic bodies are held together by 
vital affinities, under the influence of which they were originally 
combined. But no sooner does life cease, than these elements be- 
come subject to the laws of inert matter. The original affinities, 
which had been modified or suspended during life, are brought 
into operation ; the elementary atoms react upon each other, new 
combinations are formed, and the organized structure passes, soon- 
er or later, into decay. 

The rapidity with which decomposition takes place in organic 
bodies depends upon the nature of the particular substances, and 
upon the circumstances under which it is placed. Temperature, 
moisture, and the presence of decomposing agents, greatly affect 
both the period and extent of this process. 



CHAP. III. 

ORIGIN AND REGULATION OF ANIMAL 
HEAT. 



The true sources of animal 'heat are still imperfectly known. 
Its regular production, however, is an essential condition of life. 
If the human body did not possess within itself the power of ge- 
nerating heat, so as to maintain nearly an equality of temperature 
in all climates, it could not long exist. In winter, and especially 
in the northern regions, the blood would speedily be converted 
into a solid mass, and life be extinguished, if no provision existed, 
for replacing the caloric withdrawn from the system by the sur- 
rounding cold. In most parts of the globe, the heat of the atmos- 
phere is, even in summer, inferior to that of the human body, and 
consequently a loss of caloric is always going on, which must be 
made up in some way, otherwise disease and death would speedi- 
ly ensue. In cholera, a very remarkable diminution of heat oc- 
curs, and a return of the natural temperature is an indispensable 
step towards recovery. 

The relation between the productien of animal heat, and tha 
condition of the respiratory functions, is the most direct and re- 
markable. In general, other conditions being alike, heat is gene- 
rated more or less freely, in proportion to the size and vigor of 
the lungs ; and when these are impaired, the production of heat 
is diminished. Hence many persons, with imperfectly developed 
lungs, and a predisposition to consumption, complain habitually 
of coldness of the surface and feet ; and many who were previ- 
ously in good health, became more and more sensible to cold, in 
proportion as the approach of disease weakened the functions of 
the lungs. I have noticed this increased sensibility to cold, as 
precursor of chronic pulmonary disease, both in myself and others, 



454 MISCELLANEOUS. 

before any other very ostensible symptom had appeared, and 
think I have seen its further progress arrested by the timely use of 
proper means, where much greater difficulty would have been ex- 
perienced had the warning not been attended to. 

The generation of heat in the living system being so immedi- 
ately connected with the lungs, we find the temperature highest in 
those animals who possess them in the greatest perfection, viz. 
birds. In many species, the internal heat exceeds that of man 
by twenty or thirty degrees ; while that of man exceeds, to as 
great an extent, the heat of such of the inferior animals as are re- 
remarkable for imperfect organs of respiration. 

The next condition affecting the production of animal heat, is 
the co-operation of the nervous system. If the mind be depressed 
by grief, tormented by anxiety, or absorbed in sedentary medita- 
tion, all the bodily functions become weakened, the circulation 
languishes, the breathing becomes slow and scarcely perceptible, 
digestion is ill-performed, and coldness of the extremities ensues. 
If, on the other hand, the mind and nervous system be stimulated 
by cheerful exertion and agreeable emotion, a pleasant glow per- 
vades the frame, and external cold is much more easily resisted. 

The quantity and quality of the food, and the state of the di- 
gestive functions, are also important conditions. This will be 
readily assented to, when the reader considers that a due supply 
of well-formed chyle is required to restore the nourishing proper- 
ties of the blood, and that if, in consequence either of insufficient 
food or weak digestion, this be rendered impossible, all the animal 
functions, and, among others, the production of heat, are necessa- 
rily impaired. This is the reason why coldness of the feet, and 
chilliness of the surface are so generally complained of in indiges- 
tion and bilious complaints. 

Every body knows that exercise favors, and indolence obstructs 
the development of animal heat. Exercise produces its effect by 
the general stimulus which it gives directly to the respiratory and 
circulating systems, and indirectly to the nervous and digestive 
functions. 

In attempting, therefore, to increase the power of resistence to 
cold in the human body, we ought to take into account all the 
conditions which favor the generation of heat. Observation proves 
that the degree of cold required to overcome the internal genera- 



ANIMAL HEAT. 455 

ting power, and to extinguish life, varies in the same individual at 
different times ; and, therefore, our protecting measures ought also 
to be varied according to the state of the constitution, the vigor of 
the respiratory and digestive functions, the kind of food, and the 
amount of exercise. When food is inadequate, and the mind de- 
pressed, the system resists the impression of cold with great diffi- 
culty ; and even in Scotland, where the temperature is rarely very 
low, scarcely a winter passes without several instances of death 
occurring from exposure in ill-fed and ill-clothed individuals, even 
when the thermometer is above the freezing point. This happens 
usually, when the wind aids the rapid abstraction of heat. Well- 
fed and well-clothed guards of coaches, on the other hand, are re- 
markable examples of the power of withstanding low temperatures 
in very exposed situations, where the animal functions are in a 
state of vigor. The recent Arctic expeditions under Parry and 
Franklin, afforded similar instances. If the use of suitable cloth- 
ing is found insufficient to keep the body warm, we may infer 
with certainty, although no other sign of bad health has appeared, 
that some internal cause exists, affecting and imparing one or the 
other of the sources of animal heat already mentioned, and that 
till the special cause be discovered and removed, the evil itself 
will continue undiminished. 

In winter, young people often suffer from being daily confined, 
for many hours in succession, without exercise, in rooms insuffi- 
ciently heated. This is a constant subject of complaint in large 
academies and boarding-schools, where economy in fuel is carried 
to its utmost limits. Nothing tends more than this to lower the 
general standard of health, and prepare the individual for the fu- 
ture inroads of insidious disease. In scrofulous children, espe- 
cially, in whom the evolution of heat is rarely energetic, the evil 
is one of great magnitude ; for the chilblains, colds, and head- 
aches, more immediately complained of, are often its least import- 
ant consequences. It is far from my wish to recommend that the 
young of either sex should be brought up in the relaxing atmo- 
sphere of over-heated rooms. On the contrary, comfortable 
warmth ought, in every instance, to be drawn chiefly from its le- 
gitimate sources — free respiration in a pure air, abundant out-door 
exercise, vigorous digestion, and an actively employed mind. If 
these conditions be observed, little fire will be required, to supply 



456 MISCELLANEOUS. 

warmth to the young. But if, as often happens, these be neglect- 
ed, and the generation of animal heat be thereby reduced too low, 
we must either allow the mischief to go on increasing, or afford an 
adequate warmth from without. It is in vain to think of rendering 
young creatures hardy, by subjecting them to the continued influ- 
ence of a depressing temperature. A few may escape, but the 
majority will certainly suffer. 



DR. ARNOTT'S HYDROSTATIC BED FOR 
INVALIDS. 

In many diseases which afflict humanity, more than half of the 
suffering and danger is not really a part of the disease, but the ef- 
fect or consequence of the confinement to which the patient is sub- 
jected. Thus, a fracture of the bone of the arm is as serious a 
local injury, as a fracture of one of the bones of the leg; but the 
former leaves the patient free to go about and amuse himself, or 
attend to business as he wills, and to eat and drink as usual— in 
fact, hardly renders him an invalid ; while the latter imprisons the 
patient closely upon his bed, and brings upon him, first, the irk- 
someness of the unvaried position, and then the pains of the une- 
qual pressure borne by the parts on which the body rests. These, 
in many cases of confinement, disturb the sleep and the appetite, 
and excite fever, or such constitutional irritation, as much to re- 
tard the cure of the original disease, and not unfrequently to pro- 
duce new and more serious disease. 

That complete inaction should prove hurtful to the animal 
system, may by all be at once conceived ; the operation of the 
continued local pressures will be understood from the following 
statements. The health and even life of every part of the animal 
body depends on the sufficient circulation through it of fresh blood 
driven in by the force of the heart. Now, when a man is sitting 
or lying, the parts of the flesh compressed by the weight of the 
body do not receive the blood so readily as at other times ; and if, 
from any cause, the action of his heart becomes weak, the inter- 



HYDROSTATIC BED. 457 

ruption will both follow more quickly and become more complete. 
A peculiar uneasiness soon arises where the circulation is thus ob- 
structed, impelling the person to change of position ; and a heal- 
thy person changes as regularly, and with as little reflection, as he 
winks to wipe and moisten his eye-balls. A person weakened 
by disease, however, while he generally feels the uneasiness soon- 
er, as explained above, and, therefore, becomes what is called rest- 
less, makes the changes with much fatigue : and, should the sen- 
sations, after a time, become indistinct, as in the delirium of fever, 
in palsy, etc., or should the patient have become too weak to obey 
the sensation, the compressed parts are kept so long without their 
natural supply of blood that they lose their vitality, and become 
what are called sloughs or mortified parts. These have, after- 
wards, to be thrown off, if the patient survive, by the process of 
ulceration, and they leave deep holes, requiring to be filled up by 
new flesh, during a tedious convalescence. Many a fever, after 
a favorable crisis, has terminated fatally from this occurrence of 
sloughing on the back or sacrum ; and the same termination is 
common in lingering consumptions, palsies, spine diseases, etc., 
and generally in diseases which confine the patients long to bed. 

It was to mitigate all, and entirely to prevent some, of the evils 
attendant on the necessity of remaining in a reclining posture, that 
the hydrostatic bed was contrived. It was first used under the fol- 
lowing circumstances : 

A lady, after her confinement, which occurred prematurely, and 
when her child had been for some time dead, passed through a 
combination and succession of low fever, jaundice, and phlegmasia 
dolens of one leg. In her state of extreme depression of strength 
and of sensibility, she rested too long in one posture, and the parts 
of the body on which she had rested all suffered ; a slough formed 
on the sacrum, another on the heel : and, in the left hip, on which 
she had lain much, inflammation began, which terminated in ab- 
scess. These evils occurred while she was using preparations of 
bark, and other means, to invigorate the circulation, and while her 
ease and comfort were watched over by the affectionate assiduity of 
her mother, with numerous attendants. After the occurrence, she 
was placed upon the bed contrived for invalids by Mr. Earle, fur- 
nished for this case with pillows of down, and of air of various sizes, 
and, out of its mattress, portions were cut opposite to the slougli- 
58 



458 MISCELLANEOUS. 

ing parts ; and Mr. Earle himself soon afforded his valuable aid, 
Sueh, however, was the reduction of the powers of life, that, in 
spite of all endeavors, the mischief advanced, and, about a week 
later, during one night, the chief slough on the back was much en- 
larged, another had formed near it, and a new abscess was produ- 
ced in the right hip. An air-pillow had pressed where the sloughs 
appeared. The patient was, at that time, so weak that she gene- 
rally fainted when her wounds were dressed ; she was passing 
days and nights of uninterrupted suffering, and, as all known 
means seemed inefficient to relieve her, her life was in imminent 
danger. 

Under these circumstances, the idea of the hydrostatic bed oc- 
curred to me. 

Even the pressure of an air-pillow had killed her flesh ; and it 
was evident that persons in such a condition could not be saved un- 
less they could be supported without sensible inequality of pres- 
sure. I then reflected that the support of water to a floating body 
is so uniformly diffused that every thousandth of an inch of the in- 
ferior surface has, as it were, its own accurate liquid pillar, and 
no one part bears the load of its neighbor ; that a person resting in 
a bath is nearly thus supported ; that this patient might be laid 
upon the surface of a bath over which a large sheet of the water- 
proof India rubber cloth was previously thrown, she being render- 
ed sufficiently buoyant by a soft mattress placed beneath her ; thus 
would she repose on the face of the water like a swan on its plu- 
mage, without sensible pressure any where, and almost as if the 
weight of her body were annihilated. The pressure of the atmo- 
sphere on our bodies is of fifteen pounds per square inch of its 
surface : but, because uniformly diffused, is not felt. The pres- 
sure of a water bath, of depth to cover the body, is less than half 
a pound per inch, and is similarly unperceived. A bed, such as 
then planned, was immediately made. A trough of convenient 
length and breadth, and about a foot deep, was lined with metal 
to make it water-tight ; it was about half filled with water, and 
over it was thrown a sheet of the India rubber cloth as large as 
would be a complete lining to it empty. Of this sheet, the edges, 
touched with varnish to prevent the water from creeping round by 
capillary attraction, were afterwards secured in a water-tight man- 
ner all round the upper border or top of the trough, shutting in the 



HYDROSTATIC BED. 459 

water as closely as if it had been in bottles, the only entrance left 
being through an opening at one corner, which could be perfectly 
closed. Upon this expanded dry sheet, a suitable mattress was 
laid, and constituted a bed ready to receive its pillow and bed 
clothes, and not distinguishable from a common bed but by its most 
surpassing softness or yielding. The bed was carried to the pa- 
tient's house, and she was laid upon it ; she was instantly relieved 
in a remarkable degree, sweet sleep came to her, she awoke re- 
freshed, she passed the next night much better than usual, and, on 
the following day, Mr. Earle found that all the sores had assumed 
a healthy appearance ; the healing from that time went on rapidly, 
and no new sloughs were formed. When the patient was first laid 
upon the bed, her mother asked her where the down pillows, 
which she before had used, were to be placed ; to which she an- 
swered, that she knew not, for that she had no pain left to direct ; 
in fact, she needed them no more. 

It may be here recalled to mind, that the human body is nearly 
of the specific gravity of water, or of the weight of its bulk of 
water, and, therefore, as is known to swimmers, is just suspended 
or upheld in water without exertion, when the swimmer rests 
tranquilly on his back with his face upwards. He then displaces 
water equal to his own body in weight as well as in bulk, and is 
supported as the displaced water would have been. If his body 
be two and a half cubical feet in bulk, (a common size,) he will 
just displace two and a half cubic feet of water, equal in weight 
to his body. If, however, instead of displacing the water with 
his mere body, he chooses to have something around or under him 
which is bulky with little weight, as the mattress of the bed above 
described, when his weight has forced two cubical feet under the 
level of the water around, he will float four-fifths of his body 
above the level, and will sink much less into his floating mattress, 
than a person sinks in an ordinary feather bed. It thus appears 
that, by choosing the thickness of the mattress, and if unusual 
positions are required, by having different thickness in different 
parts, or by placing a bulk of folded blanket, or of pillow, over or 
under the mattress, in certain situations, any desirable position of 
the body may be easily obtained. 

This bed is a warm bed, owing to the water being nearly an 
absolute non-conducter of the heat from above downwards, and 



460 MISCELLANEOUS. 

owing to its allowing no passage of cold air from below. From 
this last fact, however, less of the perspiration, whether sensible 
or insensible, will be carried off by the air, than in a common bed ; 
and unless the patient can leave the bed daily, to let it be aired, it 
is necessary to lay an oiled silk, or other water-proof cloth, over 
the mattress, to prevent the perspiration from descending, to be 
condensed on the cloth below ; or to place a blanket below, to be 
changed occasionally ; or, finally, to lay under the mattress a layer 
of cork, cut into small pieces, so connected as to leave air passages 
between, for any desirable degree of ventilation. This bed is in 
itself as dry as any bed can be ; for the India rubber cloth, (of 
which bottles can be made,) is quite impermeable to water, and 
the maker is now preparing cloth expressly for this purpose. 

Sir Humphrey Davy recommended that his safety lamp should 
be double ; some persons may prefer a double sheet, to avoid the 
possibility of accident. 

Unlike any other bed that ever was contrived, it allows the pa- 
tient, when capable of only feeble efforts, to change his position, 
almost like a person swimming, and so to take a degree of exer- 
cise, affording the kind of relief which, in constrained positions, 
is obtained by occasional stretching, or which an invalid seeks by 
driving out in a soft springed carriage. It exceedingly facilitates 
turning for the purpose of dressing wounds ; for, by raising one 
side of the mattress, or depressing the other, or merely by the pa- 
tient's extending a limb to one side, he is gently rolled over, near- 
ly as if he were simply suspended in water ; and it is possible 
even to dress wounds, apply poultices, or place vessels under any 
part of the body, without moving the body at all, for there are 
some inches of yielding water under the body, and the elastic 
mattress may, at any part, be pushed down, leaving vacant space 
there, without the support being lessened for the other parts. 
Then, with all the advantages which other invalid beds possess, 
and with those which are entirely its own, it may be made so 
cheaply, that even in hospitals, where economy most prevails, it 
may at once be adopted for many of the bed-ridden. 

The author has now seen enough of the effects of this bed, to 
make him feel it a duty at once to publish a notice of it. With 
it, evidently, the fatal termination called sloughing, now so com- 
mon, of fevers and other diseases, need never occur again. And 



HUNGER. 461 

not only will it prevent that termination, but, by alleviating the 
distress through the earlier stages, it may prevent many cases from 
ever reaching the degree of danger. Then it is peculiarly appli- 
cable to cases of fractured bones, and other surgical injuries ; to 
palsies, disease of the hip-joint and spine, and universally where 
persons are obliged to pass much time in bed. And in all cases 
of curvature of the spine, either actually existing or threatened, it 
affords a means of laying the patient in any desired position, and 
with any degree of pressure incessantly urging any part of the 
spine back to its place. If used without the mattress, it becomes 
a warm or a cold bath, not allowing the body, however, to be 
touched by the water ; and in India it might be made a cool bed 
for persons sick or sound, during the heats which there prevent 
sleep, and endanger health. There are numerous other profes- 
sional adaptations and modifications of it, which readily occur to 
practitioners sufficiently versed in the department of natural philo- 
sophy (hydrostatics) to which it belongs. Before reflection, a 
person might suppose a resemblance between it and an air-bed 
or pillow, calling this a water bed or pillow ; but the principles of 
the two are perfectly distinct or opposite. An air pillow supports 
by the tension of the surface, which encloses the air, and is there- 
fore like a hammock, or the tight sacking under the straw mat- 
tress of a common bed, and really is a hard pillow ; but, in the 
hydrostatic bed, there is no tense surface or web at all : the patient 
is floating upon the water, on which a loose sheet is lying, merely 
to keep the mattress dry, and every point of the body is supported 
by the water immediately beneath it. To recall the difference 
here described, and which is of great importance, the bed is better 
described by the appellation of hydrostatic bed than of water bed. 

HUNGER; 

The feeling of a want of food. When the stomach has digested 
and disposed of the food and drink which it contained, its peculiar 
nervous power is destroyed, and some time is necessary before it 
collects it again. This time is shorter, in proportion as the indi- 
vidual is healthy, young, strong and active. As soon as this ner- 
vous power is restored, the activity of the organ is again awaken- 



462 MISCELLANEOUS. 

ed, and produces a longing to eat, which we call, in its first de- 
gree, appetite. If this is not gratified, it gains strength, and be- 
comes hunger. 

Appetite is not a disagreeable feeling, but hunger is an ever-in- 
creasing pain, on account of the ever-increasing sensibliity of tbe 
nerves of the stomach. To some men, whose stomachs are mor- 
bidly sensitive, the first desire for food is unpleasant ; and if this 
desire is not immediately gratified, they are seized with griping 
pains in the parts about the stomach, which, if not appeased, are 
followed by sudden weakness, and even fainting. If hunger be 
not satisfied, a dreadful state of the body ensues, aud finally death. 
After long-continued hunger, the blood becomes weak, acrid and 
thin, on account of the want of materials to compensate for the 
nutritious matter expended in the support of the body ; hence the 
whole body becomes lean and weak ; bloody fluxes take place 
from all parts, as well as violent irritation of the nervous system, 
caused by the excessive sensibility of the nerves of the stomach, 
which, at length, extends to the whole region of the abdomen ; is 
carried to a still greater height, and produces pain over the whole 
body ; sleeplessness ; convulsion ; raving madness ; until, at 
length, death puts an end to the scene. 

There is a mode of curing diseases by the greatest possible ab- 
stinence from food ; so much only being allowed, as is requisite 
to keep the patient alive. The food is diminished by degrees ; 
and, in the period of convalescence, is increased in the same way, 
with much precaution , as many patients, unable to resist their 
appetite, have fdied in consequence of a slight indulgence. This 
mode of cure has been found of great use in the cases of deep- 
rooted complaints, which baffled the powers of medicine. It is 
applied particularly in connection with frequent unctions of mer- 
cury ; in obstinate cases of syphilis, when even the bones have 
become affected ; and the bases in which this severe remedy has 
produced brilliant successes, are numerous. It is considered, in 
Germany, as indispensable to the cure of inveterate syphilis. The 
patient is kept in a well-closed room, receiving only a little bread 
and water, and soon loses his appetite, owing to his debilitated 
state, produced by the mercurial unctions. His bed-linen is never 
changed, nor the room aired ; indeed, a very trifling draught of 



ALIMENT. 463 

air has proved fatal. The salivation is very great, and it is sur- 
prising that man can live at all in such a state as these patients 
are often in. The cure generally requires about three weeks. 



ALIMENT. 

Aliment : a term which includes every thing serving as nutri- 
ment for organized beings. In animals and vegetables, we can 
observe the phenomena of decomposition and reproduction, and 
analyze the substances that administered to their growth. Gene- 
rally, however, the word aliment is used for whatever serves as 
nutriment to animal life. It is, in this respect, a subject of great 
interest to the zoologist. In the present article, we shall confine 
ourselves to the aliment of mankind. 

Man, it is well known, derives nourishment both from animal 
and vegetable substances. He eats fruits, both ripe and unripe ; 
roots, leaves, flowers, even the pith and the bark of different plants, 
many different parts of animals, and the whole of some. Cli- 
mate, custom, religion, the different degrees of want and of civil- 
ization, give rise to an innumerable diversity in food and drink, 
from the repast of the cannibal of New-Zealand, to that of a Pa- 
risian epicure; from the diet of the carnivorous native of the 
North, to that of the Brahmin, whose appetite is satisfied with 
vegetables ; from the oak-bark bread of the Norwegian peasant, to 
the luxuriantly served table of a Hungarian magnate at Vienna. 
Some nations abhor what others relish, and great want often ren- 
ders acceptable what, under other circumstances, would have ex- 
cited the greatest disgust. The flesh of dogs is commonly eaten 
in China, and in Africa that of snakes, particularly of the rattle- 
snake and boa constrictor. Locusts are eaten both in Asia and 
Africa, and the Negroes on the coast of Guinea relish lizards, 
mice, rats, snakes, caterpillars, and other reptiles and worms. The 
Otomacs, a tribe of American Indians, are said by Humboldt to 
collect a kind of clay, to be eaten in the rainy season. 

It is an interesting subject, as yet by no means sufficiently in- 
vestigated, how far the different aliment of various countries is 
connected with the climate, etc., and what influence it exerts on 
the different races, as well as the consequence of introducing new 



464 MISCELLANEOUS. 

species of aliments. Some excellent remarks on the national dish- 
es of different nations, were published by Baron Rumor, a Ger- 
man, in 1822, in a work which he called Kochkunst. 

All kinds of aliment must contain nutritious substance, which, 
being extracted by the act of digestion, enters the blood, and ef- 
fects, by assimilation, the repair of the body. Alimentary matter, 
therefore, must be similar to animal substance, or transmutable into 
such. In this respect, alimentary substances differ from medicines, 
because the latter retain their peculiar qualities in spite of the or- 
gans of digestion, and will not assimilate with the animal sub- 
stance, but act as foreign substances, serving to excite the activity 
of particular organs or systems of the body. All alimentary sub- 
stances must, therefore, be composed, in a greater or less degree, 
of soluble parts, which easily lose their peculiar qualities in the 
process of digestion, and correspond to the elements of the body. 
These substances, in their simple state, are mucilage, gelatin, glu- 
ten, albumen, farina, fibrin, and saccharine matter. Of these, 
vegetables contain chiefly mucilage, saccharine matter, and farina ; 
which latter substance, particularly in connection with the vegeta- 
ble gluten — by which both become apt for fermentation, and thus 
for dissolution and digestion — is the basis of very nutritious food. 
The nutritive part of fruits consists of their saccharine matter and 
a little mucilage. In animal food, gelatin is particularly abundant. 
The nutritiousness of the different species of food and drink de- 
pends, therefore, upon the proportion which they contain of those 
substances, and the mode in which they are connected, favoring or 
opposing their dissolution. Organs of digestion in a healthy state 
dissolve alimentary substances more easily, and take up the nutri- 
tious portions more abundantly, than those of which the strength 
has been impaired so that they cannot resist the tendency of each 
substance to its peculiar chimical decomposition. The wholesome 
or unwholesome character of any aliment depends, therefore, in a 
great measure, on the state of the digestive organs, in any given 
case. Sometimes a particular kind of food is called wholesome, 
because it produces a beneficial effect, of a particular character, on 
the system of an individual. In this case, however, it is to be 
considered as a medicine, and can be called wholesome only for 
those whose systems are in the same condition. Very often a sim- 
ple aliment is made indigestible by artificial cookery. Aliments 



ALIMENT. 465 

abounding in fat aie unwholesome, because fat resists the operation 
of the gastric juice. The addition of too much spice makes many 
an innocent aliment injurious, because spices resist the action of 
the digestive organs, and produce an irritation of particular parts 
of the system. They are introduced as artificial stimulants of ap- 
petite. In any given case, the digestive power of the individual 
is to be considered, in order to determine whether a particular ali- 
ment is wholesome or not. In general, therefore, we can only 
call that aliment healthy, which is easily soluble, and is suited to 
the digestive powers of the individual ; and, in order to render the 
aliment perfect, the nutritious parts must be mixed up with a cer- 
tain quantity of innocent substance affording no nourishment, to 
fill the stomach ; because there is no doubt that many people injure 
their health by taking too much nutritious food. In this case, the 
nutritious parts which cannot be dissolved, act precisely like food 
which is in itself indigestible. In Prussia and Austria, where, as 
under many other despotic governments, the medical police is very 
good, the public officers pay much attention to aliment, and are 
careful that provisions exposed to sale be of a good quality, and 
particularly that no decayed or adulterated articles be sold to the 
poor. Such regulations exist, to a certain extent, in England, 
France, the United States, and, in fact, in every civilized country. 
The kind of aliment used influences the health, and even the 
character of man. He is fitted to derive nourishment both from 
animal and vegetable life, but can live exclusively on either. Ex- 
perience proves that animal food most readily augments the solid 
parts of the blood, the fibrin, and, therefore, the strength of the 
muscular system, but disposes the body, at the same time, to in- 
flammatory, putrid, and scorbutic disease, and the character to vio- 
lence and coarseness. On the contrary, vegetable food renders 
the blood lighter and more liquid, but forms weak fibers, disposes 
the system to the diseases which spring from feebleness, and tends 
to produce a gentle character. Something of the same difference 
of moral effect results from the use of strong or light wines. But 
the reader must not infer that meat is indispensable for the support 
of the bodily strength. The peasants of some parts of Switzer- 
land, who hardly ever taste any thing but bread, cheese, and but- 
ter, are vigorous people. The nations of the North incline, gene- 
rally, more to animal diet; those of the South, and the Orientals, 
59 



466 MISCELLANEOUS. 

more to vegetable. These latter are generally more simple in their 
diet than the former, where their taste has not been corrupted by 
luxurious indulgence. Some tribes in the East, and the caste of 
Brahmins in India, live entirely on vegetable food. The inhabit- 
ants of the most northern regions live almost entirely upon animal 
food, scarcely ever partaking of any vegetable substance, at least 
during the greater part of the year. Some nations feed chiefly on 
terrestrial animals, others on aquatic ones. 

DIET. 

The dietetic part of medicine is an important branch, and seems 
to require a much greater share of attention than it commonly 
meets with. A great variety of diseases might be removed by the 
observance of a proper diet and regimen, without the assistance of 
medicine, were it not for the impatience of the sufferers. It may, 
however, on all occasions, come in as a proper assistant to the 
cure. That food is, in general, thought the best and most con- 
ducive to long life, which is most simple, pure, and free from ir- 
ritating qualities, and is capable of being most easily converted 
into the substance of the body, after it has been duly prepared by 
the art of cookery ; but the nature, composition, virtues and uses 
of particular aliments can never be learned to satisfaction, without 
the assistance of practical chimistry. 

Diet drink, an alterative decoction, employed daily in consi- 
derable quantities, at least from a pint to a quart. The decoction 
of sarsaparilla and mezereon, the Lisbon diet-drink, is the most 
common and most useful. 

DIGESTION. 

Digestion is that process in the animal body, by which the ali- 
ments are dissolved, and the nutritive parts separated from those 
which cannot afford nourishment to the body. The organs effec- 
ting this process are divided into the digestive organs, properly 
so called, and the auxiliary organs. The former are composed 
of the division of the intestinal canal, which includes the stomach, 



DIGESTION. 467 

the great and small intestines, etc. To the latter belong the liver, 
the pancreas, and the spleen. 

The first process of digestion is the solution of the aliments. 
When the aliments, after being properly prepared, and mixed with 
saliva by mastication, have reached the stomach, they are inti- 
mately united, by the motion of the stomach, with a liquid sub- 
stance called the gastric juice. By this motion, the aliments are 
mechanically separated into their smallest parts ; penetrated by 
gastric juice, and transformed into a uniform pulpy, or fluid mass. 
At the same time, a solution of the aliments into their simple ele- 
ments, and a mixture of them, so as to form other products, takes 
place, effected partly by the peculiar power of the stomach, and 
the liquid generated in it ; partly by the warmth of this organ. 
This pulpy mass, called chyme, proceeds from the stomach, 
through the pylorus, into the part of the intestinal canal called the 
large intestines, where it is mixed with the pancreatic juice, and 
the bile. Both these liquids operate most powerfully on the 
chyme, yet in very different ways. The mild juice of the pan- 
creas attracts the milk-like liquid of the chyme, and forms with it 
the chyle, which is absorbed by the capillary vessels called lacteals. 
On the other hand, the bitter matter called bile, formed by the 
liver from the blood, attracts the coarser parts, which are not fit- 
ted to be absorbed into the fine animal organization ; and excites 
the intestinal canal to the motion which carries it off, through the 
natural channel. 



CHAP. IV. 

RESPIRATION. 

Respiration ; the alternate inspiration and expiration of atmo- 
spheric air, for the purpose of bringing it in contact with the blood, 
and exchanging the hydrogen and carbon, with which it is charged, 
for oxygen. This function is, therefore, closely connected with 
that of the circulation of the blood. The organs and mechanism 
by which this wonderful function is carried on, vary considerably 
in the different classes of animals. In the mammalia, birds and 
reptiles, the organ of respiration is the lungs ; in fish, the gills ; in 
most common instruments, the tracheae ; and, in the lower classes 
of animals, different parts of the system. The air, being brought 
in contact with the blood, is decomposed ; its oxygen is united 
with the blood, and its nitrogen is returned, by expiration, unchan- 
ged, with an additional quantity of carbonic acid gas. A part of 
the oxygen of the inhaled air is united, in the lungs, with the free 
hydrogen, and forms water, which is emitted in the form of vapor, 
visible at 40° Fahrenheit. Another part of the oxygen unites with 
the superfluous carbon in the blood, and forms the carbonic acid gas 
which passes off with the watery vapor. It is evident, from ob- 
servation, that oxygen gas is necessary to animal life. As to its 
manner of operating in the body after inspiration, opinions differ. 
Upon respiration, also, depends animal heat, which is greater, at 
least, in mammalia and birds than that of the surrounding element. 
The mechanical part of the function of respiration is effected by 
the action of the ribs and diaphragm. In the natural state, the ribs 
are inclined downwards ; and when this series of movable hoops 
is raised by the action of the muscle, the cavity of the chest is en- 
larged. The descent of the diaphragm, by its construction, in- 
creases this effect, and the air, therefore, rushes in to fill up the va- 
cant space ; the ribs then descend, and the diaphragm rises, and 
the air is necessarily driven out in consequence of the resulting 



470 MISCELLANEOUS. 

contraction of the chest. About twenty respirations take place in 
a minute ; and from thirty to forty cubic inches of air are inhaled 
at each inspiration. A man consumes about a gallon of air in this 
same time. 



PERSPIRATION 



By perspiration from the skin of beasts and men, we understand 
first, the action by which certain fluid matters, separated from the 
blood in the thick network of capillary vessels and cells constitu- 
ting the skin, are changed into vapor, (or into fine effluvia,) and 
in this form escape at the pores of the skin ; second, sometimes, 
also, the secretion and removal from the body of these matters 
themselves by the action of the skin. This effluvium is usually so 
fine that we cannot see it with the naked eye ; hence, we call it 
the insensible perspiration ; but it becomes visible if we hold the 
hand on cold glass or polished metal, also, if the perspiration is 
strong, in a cold temperature, or if from a still stronger perspira- 
tion, this vapor is not dissolved in the air, but collects on the skin 
in drops forming sweat. This perspiration, through the skin, has 
much resemblance to the vapor that escapes from the lungs to the 
secretions of the membranes lining the cavities of the body, as the 
stomach, chest, and abdomen, with which secretions it also appears 
to stand in connection. The importance of this function will be 
evident when we reflect that the surface of a full grown man con- 
tains fifteen or sixteen square feet, and, therefore, the quantity of 
matter incessantly perspired must be very great, which is also con- 
firmed by the accurate observations of Sanctorius, (Venice, 1611,) 
who spent a great part of his life at the balance. He weighed 
and kept an account not only of all the food that he consumed, but 
also of every thing that passed from him, and thereby proved that 
a great part, not only of the fluids, but also of the solid substances 
that a man consumes, leaves his body by perspiration. 

Perspiration promotes two objects, very important for the pre- 
servation of the bodily structure ; one is the purification of the 
blood from injurious and superfluous matters. Besides the adven- 
titious compound matters that pass into the blood from particular 
kinds of food, (for instance, onions, etc.,) the carbon, the hydro- 



PERSPIRATION. 471 

gen, and particularly the excess of nitrogen, are carried off from 
the blood by perspiration, and changed by caloric into gas and va- 
por, and thus removed from the body. The substance of the body 
is, in many diseases, particularly in fevers, converted into aeriform 
fluids by an evaporation so extraordinarily increased and accelerat- 
ed, that the strongest man is entirely worn away in a few days, 
without having lost any thing except through the skin. The other 
advantage of perspiration is, the preservation of a suitable degree 
of warmth in the body, and the reduction of an immoderate heat. 
Every living body has its peculiar degree of warmth, which re- 
mains for the most part the same, whether the surrounding bo- 
dies are more or less warm. The temperature of man is about 
ninety-two to ninety-nine degrees of Fahrenheit. As much caloric 
is employed in the process of perspiration, it is an important 
means of cooling the body, and of conducting off the heat which is 
incessantly generated within. The greater the heat which the 
body is exposed to, or the more it is produced within from other 
causes, as hot drinks and excitement, the greater is the perspira- 
tion, and the more actively is the heat conducted off. If the body 
is exposed to great cold, the operations of the skin are weakened, 
perspiration proceeds more slowly, caloric is more sparingly con- 
sumed, and thus accumulates in the body. Men usually lose flesh 
in summer, and recover it in winter, because the increased perspi- 
ration dissolves and removes more substance from the body in the 
former season. Therefore a man is cooled by sweat, and in the 
dry heat of fever is refreshed, as soon as a crisis produces perspi- 
ration. An interruption, or even a disturbance of perspiration for 
a long time, must then produce results in the highest degree pre- 
judicial to the health, and even dangerous to life. These results, 
in a great measure, depend on the close connection of the opera- 
tions of the skin with those of the internal organs, and are the 
more stubborn and injurious the longer the perspiration is imped- 
ed. The increase of the internal warmth often produces a fever ; 
also noxious matters are collected in the blood, from which it 
should be freed ; therefore, it changes from its natural condition, 
and an unnatural excitement is produced. Finally, the operation 
of the other organs of secretion is immoderately increased, because 
they have to perform , in part, the office of the skin ; thence re- 



472 MISCELLANEOUS. 

suit after a cold, rheum, sore-throat, cough ; also serious internal 
inflammations, diarrhea, diabetes, dropsy, protracted rheumatism, 
and various other diseases. 



SECRETION. 

Many of the component parts of the animal system become, in 
the course of its operation, changed and unfit for further use. 
For the preservation of the system, it is not less necessary that 
these parts should be removed, than that the constant consumption 
should be supplied; and in this double process, the whole organic 
system is continualy changing its ingredients, although it retains 
the same external form. This supply of new matter is derived 
from the blood, and the process itself is called secretion. Most 
animals secrete both solids and fluids. The solids are deposited 
by the capillary vessels, at the places of their destination, and 
supply the continual wear of the system. The liquids are not 
intended to preserve the form directly, but serve to assimilate the 
food, by promoting digestion, as, for instance, the saliva, gastric 
juice, and bile. In these secreted fluids, are contained all the 
component parts of the blood, slightly changed, together with an 
alkali. Distinguished from these, are the excretions which are 
produced in a similar manner, and are designed to carry off from 
the system useless matter. 

SYMPATHY; 

The quality of the animal organization, by which, through the 
increased or diminished activity of one organ, that of others is 
also increased or diminished. The idea of an organized system — 
the union of many parts in one whole, in which all the parts cor- 
respond to each other — includes the idea of a mutual operation, 
of which sympathy is a part. The medium between the organ 
from which the action proceeds, and that to which it extends, 
has been sometimes supposed to be the nervous system, sometimes 
the vascular or the cellular system, or the juices, and it cannot 
be denied, that, in some sympethetic phenomena, the nerves and 



crisis, 473 

the vessels appear to be the media; but there are objections to 
considering them as the cause of sympathy in general, for exper- 
ience teaches that sympathy takes place also between such organs 
as have no discoverable connection by nerves or vessels. The 
phenomenon of sympathy appears even in the healthy body ; e. g. 
a strong light thrown upon the eye, sometimes produces sneezing, 
(<7. v.); tickling causes laughing; and some physiologists have even 
called the change of voice at the age of puberty, and the increased 
secretions of the liver, the salivary glands, the pancreas, and the 
coats of the stomach, at the time of digestion, a sympathetic ac- 
tion. 

But the effect of sympathy is much more oftener observed in 
diseases. There is hardly one in which some phenomena are not 
to be explained by sympathy. Sympathy is further used to ex- 
press the influence of the state of one individual upon another, e. 
g. the tickling in the throat, caused by the cough of another per- 
son, or the yawning produced by seeing another yawn, or the 
grief produced by witnessing his grief. The effects of animal 
magnetism (r/. v.) are also ascribed to sympathy, and those which 
the sight of some animals is said to have upon some men. 

CRISIS. 

Crisis in medicine; a point in a disease, at which a decided 
change for the better or worse, takes place. The crisis is most 
strongly marked in the case of acute diseases, and with strong pa- 
tients; particularly if the course of the disease is not checked by 
energetic treatment. At the approach of a crisis, the disease ap- 
pears to assume a more violent character, and the disturbance of 
the system reaches the highest point. If the change be for the 
better, the violent symptoms cease, with a copious perspiration, 
or some other discharge from the system. In cases where the dis- 
charge may have been too violent, and the nobler organs have been 
greatly deranged, or where the constitution is too weak to resist 
the disease, the patient's condition becomes worse. 

In regular fevers, the crisis takes place on regular Says, which 
are called critical days; sometimes, however, a little sooner or 
GO 



474 MISCELLANEOUS. 

later; according to the climate and the constitution of the patient. 
A bad turn often produces a crisis somewhat sooner. When the 
turn is favorable, the crisis frequently occurs a little later. After 
a salutary crisis, the patient feels himself relieved, and the danger- 
ous symptoms cease. 



SOMNAMBULISM. 

Somnambulism designates the well known phenomena of sleep- 
walking. It is also used for a certain state of a person under the 
influence of animal magnetism, (q. v.) 

The phenomena of sleep-walking, are very singular; the person 
affected performing many voluntary actions, implying a certain de- 
gree of perception of the presence of external objects. This affec- 
tion is commonly considered as an imperfect degree of sleep. In 
the case of the somnambuli, says Dugald Stewart, the mind retains 
its power over the limbs, but possesses no influence over its own 
thoughts, and scarcely any over the body, excepting those particu- 
lar members of it which are employed in walking. Sleep-walking 
is not unfrequently connected with the changes of the moon ; when 
people will rise, walk about, do certain things, and go to bed again. 
The placing of a wet cloth by the side of the bed of such a per- 
son, so as to wake him immediately, when he steps on it, is re- 
commended as a means of curing this habit. 

The subject is very obscure, the cases not having been philo- 
sophically studied to a sufficient extent. As to somnambulism in 
animal magnetism, the votaries of this science believe that the 
brain, the peculiar seat of the higher faculties, rests during som- 
nambulism, but that the vital power of the nervous system of the 
abdomen is heightened so much, that it can supply, in a degree, 
the place of the brain, and afford the means of perception. Hence, 
a letter placed on the stomach of a person in the state of somnam- 
bulism, can be read by him. 



INJECTIONS. 475 

INJECTIONS. 

Injections belong partly to surgery, and partly to anatomy. 
In surgery, fluids, different according to the different effects de- 
sired to be produced, are thrown, by means of a small syringe, 
into the natural cavities of the body, or those occasioned by dis- 
ease, partly to remove unhealthy matter, and partly to bring the 
remedy immediately to the seat of the disorder, and thus effect a 
cure. Wounds and sores are usually cleansed in this way, when 
they extend far below the skin, or an excitement and cure are pro- 
duced by the same method. 

In diseases of the nose, and the cavities connected with it; m 
those which have their seat in the neck ; in disorders of the ears, 
the bladder and urethra, the uterus and vagina, and for the radical 
cure of hydrocele, injections are often used, and with important 
advantages. Pure warm water is injected, with the highest suc- 
cess, for the removal of pus, blood, or even foreign bodies. Some- 
times astringent medicines, to restrain excessive evacuations; 
sometimes stimulating ones, to excite inflammation, as in hydro- 
cele, or even to increase and improve evacuations; sometimes 
soothing medicaments, to mitigate pain, etc., are added to the wa- 
ter. In diseases of the throat which hinder the patient from swal- 
lowing, and thus tend to produce death by starvation, nourishing 
fluids are injected into the stomach. 

The blood of beasts, or of men, has been sometimes injected 
into the veins, which is called transfusion. In the same way, 
medicines are introduced immediately to the blood : for instance, 
tartar emetic, to excite vomiting, if a foreign body is fixed in the 
throat so firmly as to restrain the patient from swallowing, and 
can neither be moved up nor down. According to the place where 
the injection is to be made, the instrument must be either longer 
or shorter, a straight or a curved tube. The size is regulated by 
the quantity of the liquid to be injected, and the force which is to 
be applied. Anatomists inject into the vessels of bodies various 
colored fluids, which are liquid when hot, and coagulate when 
cold, to make the smaller ones visible. Thus, the arteries, veins, 
and lymphatic vessels, are injected. Anatomy has carried t^is art 
so far, as to make very minute vessels visible to the naked eye. 



476 MISCELLANEOUS. 



PREGNANCY. 



Pregnancy ; the state of a female who is with child. Preg- 
nancy begins at the moment of conception, and ceases with that of 
birth. During pregnancy, the vital activity, especially of the 
womb, which probably receives, a few days after conception, the 
fecundated vesicle, increases ; the periodical discharge of blood 
ceases ; but the vessels of the womb become enlarged, more charg- 
ed with blood, longer and straighter. Its cellular substance be- 
comes softer and more spongy, the sides thicker, the cavity wider. 
It loses the pear shape which it has when not impregnated, and 
becomes more globular ; it sinks, during the first two months of 
pregnancy, lower into the pelvis ; but, afterwards, rises and be- 
comes larger, until, in the eighth month, the bottom of it can be 
felt, externally, in the region of the stomach. In the ninth month 
it sinks again somewhat. In these changes of the womb, the em- 
bryo developes itself, until it has reached, in the fortieth week, a 
sufficient degree of maturity to be able to live separate from the 
mother when the birth takes place, and pregnancy is at end; but 
the vital activity is increased in the state of pregnancy, not only 
in the womb, but in the whole body, with healthy and vigorous 
women. Pregnant women are bolder, more independent, more 
enterprising, stronger than before, and retain these qualities when 
they are mothers. They are more rarely affected by contagious 
diseases ; consumption is checked during pregnancy, but makes more 
rapid progress after its completion. Hysteric women feel often 
uncommonly well during this period ; the gouty are freed from 
their attacks ; some become uncommonly fat. On the other hand, 
this state is, with many, particularly with feeble, delicate, sickly, 
too old, or too young women, often accompanied by a great many 
complaints which depend upon the altered state of the systems of 
the vessels and nerves. The stomach, particularly, often suffers ; 
hence nausea, vomiting, a morbid loathing of, or craving for, par- 
ticular dishes, which were, till then, indifferent. Pregnant women 
often suffer, also, by wandering pains, particularly in the teeth, 
and by coughing. Much inclination exists in the body to inflam- 
mation, and a heated state of the blood ; the veins of the feet and 



PREGNANCY. 477 

the posteriors are swelled. The mechanical pressure of the womb, 
thus changed in situation and form, not unfrequently causes irregu- 
larities in the discharges of the urine and excrements. All these 
changes serve as signs of pregnancy ; other signs are the gradual 
and regular changes observed, at the opening of the womb, by in- 
ternal examination ; also the state of the breasts, which become 
larger during pregnancy, and in which a milky substance collects, 
but particularly the change of color round the nipple ; lastly, the 
motion of the child felt by the mother in the second half of the 
period of pregnancy, and the perception of different parts of the 
foetus by external and internal examination. It is very important 
to determine the fact of pregnancy at an early stage ; but it is very 
difficult in some cases, particularly in the first half of the period, 
because there are a number of diseases of the abdomen which are 
attended with similar symptoms. Pregnancy, itself, is subject to 
a number of deviations from the ordinary course. The rules laid 
down to prevent injury to the embryo, and to preserve the health 
of the mother, have reference principally to air, nourishment, and 
exercise ; to the natural desires, and preternatural longings, (the 
latter must be gratified with much caution ;) to the passions which 
must be carefully restrained ; to the imagination, because the whole 
nervous system may easily become over-excited ; to the proper al- 
lowance of sleep and the disposition of dress, which must not press 
either the abdomen or the breast. All injuries from over-exertion 
or mechanical causes are to be carefully avoided, as falls, lifting, 
blows, etc., because they may easily occasion abortions. During 
pregnancy, care ought also to be taken that the breasts are fit, after 
the birth of the child, to nourish it. It is a mistaken idea that 
abortions take place much more frequently among the higher clas- 
ses ; the poorer classes, in populous cities, are quite as liable to 
them. In the country, where a purer air keeps the body always 
in a more vigorous state, abortions occur less frequently. The 
advice of experienced female friends, during the whole period of 
pregnancy, is, of course, of the greatest value ; yet, in almost all 
countries, certain prejudices exist respecting this important state 
in a female's life, and the advice of a physician cannot be dispensed 
with. The internal examinations, mentioned above, are compara- 
tively rare in England and the United States ; but, in France, Ger- 
many, and Italy, if not throughout the European continent, they 



478 MISCELLANEOUS. 

belong to the regular course of medical attendance in the state of 
pregnancy. If every woman, during the eighth and ninth month, 
would apply our Stimulating Liniment to the abdominal region 
once a day, to the amount of a half a thimble full, she would find 
invaluable benefit therefrom. The child would be more vigorous 
and healthy, the labor pains would be much diminished, and the 
risk of miscarriage would be entirely overcome. 



CHAP. V. 



IRRITABILITY. 

Irritability ; (irritabilitas, from irrato, to provoke ; vis insi- 
ta of Haller ; vis vitalis of Corter ; oscillation of Boerhaave ; 
tonic power of Stahl ; muscular power of Bell ; inherent power 
of Cullen ;) the contractibility of muscular fibers, or a property- 
peculiar to muscles, by which they contract, upon the application 
of certain stimuli, without a consciousness of action. This pow- 
er may be seen in the tremulous contraction of muscles when la- 
cerated, or when entirely separated from the body in operations. 
Even when the body is dead, to all appearance, and the nervous 
power is gone, this contractile power remains till the organization 
yields, and begins to be dissolved. It is by this inherent power 
that a cut muscle contracts, and leaves a gap ; that a cut artery 
shrinks, and grows stiff after death. This irritability of muscle 
is so far independent of nerves, and so little connected with feel- 
ing, which is the province of the nerves, that, upon stimulating 
any muscle, by touching it with caustic, or irritating it with a 
sharp point, or driving the electric spark through it, or exciting 
with the metallic conductors, as those of silver or zinc, the muscle 
instantly contracts, although the nerve of that muscle be tied : al- 
though nerves be cut so as to separate the muscle entirely from all 
connection with the system ; although the muscle be separated 
from the body ; although the creature, upon which the experi- 
ment is performed, may have lost all sense of feeling, and have 
been long apparently dead. Thus a muscle, cut from the limb, 
trembles and palpitates a long time after ; the heart, separated 
from the body, continues its peristaltic motion, so as to roll upon 
the table, ceasing to answer to stimuli, only when it becomes 
stiff and cold. Even in vegetables, as in the sensitive plant, this 
contractile power lives. Thence comes the distinction between 



480 MISCELLANEOUS, 

the irrit ability of muscles, and the sensibility of nerves ; for the 
irritability of muscles survives the animals, as when it is active af- 
ter death : survives the life of the part, or the feelings of the whole 
system, as in universal palsy, where the vital motions continue 
entire and perfect, and where the muscles, though not obedient to 
the will, are subject to irregular and violent actions ; and it sur- 
vives the connection with the rest of the system, as when animals 
very tenacious of life, are cut into parts : but sensibility, the pro- 
perty of the nerves, gives the various modifications of sense, as 
vision, hearing, and the rest; gives also the general sense of 
pleasure or pain, and makes the system, according to its various 
conditions, feel vigorous and healthy, or weary and low. The 
eye feels and the skin feels ; but their appointed stimuli produce 
no motions in these parts ; they are sensible, but not irritable. 

The heart, the intestines, the urinary bladder, and all the mus- 
cles of voluntary motion, answer to stimuli with a quick and for- 
cible contraction ; and yet they hardly feel the stimuli by which 
these contractions are produced ; or at least they do not convey 
that feeling to the brain. There is no consciousness of present 
stimulus in those parts which are called into action by the impulse 
of the nerves, and at the command of the will; so that muscular 
parts have all the irritability of the system, with but little feeling ; 
and that little owing to the nerves which enter into their sub- 
stance ; while nerves have all the sensibility of the system, but no 
motion. 

After every action in an irritable part, a state of rest, or cessa- 
tion from motion, must take place, before the irritable part can be 
again incited to action. If, by an act of volition, we throw any of 
our muscles into action, that action can only be continued for a 
certain space of time. The muscle becomes relaxed, notwithstan- 
ding all our endeavors to the contrary, and remains a certain time 
in that relaxed state, before it can be again thrown into action. 
Each irritable part has stimuli which are peculiar to it, and which 
are intended to support its natural action ; thus blood is the sti- 
mulus proper to the heart and arteries ; but if, by any acci- 
dent, it gets into the stomach ; it produces sickness or vomit- 
ing. The urine does not irritate the tender fabric of the kindeys, 
ureters or bladder, except in such a degree as to preserve their 
healthy action ; but if it be effused into the cellular membranes, it 



IRRITABILITY. 481 

brings on such a violent action of the vessels of these parts, as to 
produce gangrene. Such stimuli are called habitual stimuli of 
parts. Each irritable part differs from the rest in regard to the 
quantity of irritability which it possesses. This law explains to 
us the reason of the great diversity which we observe in the ac- 
tion of various irritable parts ; thus the muscles of voluntary mo- 
tion can remain a long time in a state of action ; and if it be con- 
tinued as long as possible, another considerable portion of time is 
required, before they regain the irritability they lost ; but the heart 
and arteries have a more short and sudden action, and their state 
of rest is equally so. The circular muscles of the intestines have 
also a quick action and short rest. 

The action of every stimulus is in an inverse ratio to the fre- 
quency of its application. A small quantity of spirits, taken into 
the stomach, increases the action of its muscular coat, and also of 
its various vessels, so that digestion is thereby facilitated. If the 
same quantity, however, be taken frequently, it loses its effect. In 
order to produce the same effect as at first, a larger quantity is ne- 
cessary ; and hence the origin of dram-drinking. The more the 
irritability of a part is accelerated, the more that part is disposed 
to be acted upon. It is on this account that the activity of all ani- 
mals, while in perfect health, is much livelier in the morning than 
at any other part of the, day ; , for, during the night, the irritability 
of the whole frame, and especially that of the muscles destined 
for labor : viz. the muscles for voluntary action, is re-accumulated. 
The same law explains why digestion goes on more rapidly the 
first hour after food is swallowed, than at any other time ; and it 
also accounts for the great danger that accrues to a famished per- 
son upon first taking in food. 

In German philosophy, irritability, sensibility, and reproduc- 
tivity, constitute the whole of organic life. Since the time of 
Schelling, irritability is much considered in the mental philosophy 
of that country. The French, treating the subject merely with 
reference to physiology, generally use, at present, the word con- 
tractility, instead of irritability. 



61 



482 MISCELLANEOUS. 



CLINICAL MEDICINE. 

Clinical medicine teaches us to investigate at the bed-side of 
the sick, the true nature of the disease, in the phenamena present- 
ed; to note their course and termination; and to study the effects 
of the various modes of treatment, to which patients may be sub- 
jected. From this mode of study we learn the character of indi- 
vidual cases ; theoretical study being competent to make us ac- 
quainted with species only. Clinical medicine demands, there- 
fore, careful observations. It is, in fact, synonymous with expe- 
rience. What advances would medicine have made, and from 
how many errors would it have been saved, if public instruction 
had always followed this natural course, so that pupils had received 
none but correct impressions, and distinct conceptions of the phe- 
nomena of disease, and had attained a practical knowledge of the 
application of those rules and precepts, which dogmatical instruc- 
tions always leave indefinite ! 

We are unacquainted with the method of clinical instruction in 
medicine, which was followed by the Asclepiades, but we cannot 
help admiring the results of it, as exhibited to us in the writings 
of Hippocrates, who augmented the stores of experience inherited 
from them, by following in their steps. After his time, medicine 
ceased to be the property of particular families, and the path of 
experience, by which it had been rendered so valuable, was soon 
deserted. The slow process of anatomy and physiology, the 
almost constant study of the philosophy of Aristotle, and the 
endless disputes respecting the nature of man, of disease, and 
of remedies, occupied all the attention of the physicians ; and 
the wise method of observing and describing diseases themselves, 
fell into disuse. Hospitals, at their vigor, served rather as means 
of displaying the benevolence of the early Christains, than of 
perfecting the study of medicine. The school of Alexandria was 
so celebrated, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, that a careful 
attendance upon its lessons, entitled the student to pursue the 
practice of medicine. Another old, and very thriving, although 
less known institution, was situated at Nisapour, in Persia; and 
hospitals, even before the flourishing period of the Arabians, to 
whom the happy idea is commonly ascribed, were united with 



CLINICAL MEDICINE. 483 

these medical institutions. The last school, founded by the em- 
peror Aurelian, and superintended by Greek physicians, spread 
the doctrines of Hippocrates through all the East. It was sup- 
ported for several centuries, and in it, without doubt, Rhazes, Ali 
Abbas Avicenna, and the other celebrated Arabian physicians, 
were instructed. At the same time, the celebrated John Mesne, 
of Damascus, was at the head of the hospital of Bagdad. Of the 
mode of instruction pursued there, we know nothing, but we are 
inclined to form no very elevated opinion of the systems of an 
age which was devoted to all the dreams of Arabian polyphar- 
macy. In truth, medicine shared the fate of all the other natural 
sciences in the barbarous ages. Men were little disposed to ac- 
quire, slowly and cautiously, the knowledge of disease, at the 
bed-side of the sick, in the manner of the Greek physicians. 

It appears probable, that the foundation of universities led to a 
renewed attention to the study of medical science ; and we find, 
accordingly, that in Spain, even under the dominion of the Ara- 
bians, there were schools and hospitals, for the instruction of 
young physicians, at Seville, Toledo, and Cordova. But even 
then, clinical studies were almost wholly neglected. Instead of 
studying the history of diseases, the pupils occupied their time 
with the most unprofitable pursuits. Not much more advanta- 
geous were the journeys which were made, for the same objects, 
to Italy and France, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The 
schools of Paris and Montepelier were those principally resorted 
to ; but in these, the instruction consisted simply of lectures, and 
endless commentaries upon the most obscure subjects ; and even 
at the close of the fifteenth century, when the works of the Greek 
physicians began to be printed, men were still busied with verbal 
explanations and disputes. Two centuries elapsed before physi- 
cians returned to clinical studies and instructions. Among the 
renovators of this mode of studying medicine, may be named, in 
Holland, William Von Straten, Otho Heurnius, and the celebrated 
Sylvius, about the middle of the seventeenth century; and it 
is said that clinical instruction was given, at the same period, in 
the schools of Hamburg, Vienna, and Strasburg. Even Boer- 
haave, who succeeded Sylvius as clinical instructor at Leyden, in 
1714, has left us no journals of daily observations of disease, but 
only academic discourses upon the general principles of medicine. 



484 MISCELLANEOUS. 

The influence of this celebrated school was first perceived at Ed- 
inburg, and afterwards at Vienna, two schools, which, in celebrity 
for clinical instructions, soon eclipsed'* their common mother, the 
school at Leyden. Cullen, one of the most celebrated teachers of 
practical medicine at Edinburg, was too fond of fine-spun theories 
upon the condition of the disease, structures of the body, and the 
proximate causes of disease, to follow a uniform method in his 
lectures, and to adopt the entire history of disease, as observed 
at the bed-side, as the basis of his system. 

From the account of what was effected in clinical medicine in 
Italy, Germany, and France, in the course of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, we may discover both the constantly increasing attention to 
this department of knowledge, and the difficulties with which such 
institutions are obliged to contend. The Vienna school, by means 
of the labors of Van Swieten, De Haen, and, still more, of Stolt 
and of Franck, became a model of clinical study, since public 
lectures were given in the hospital, and the simplicity of Grecian 
medicine successfully inculcated. The practice and study of me- 
dicine, in the hospitals in France, was only an indirect mode of 
gaining public confidence, till the period of the general revival of 
science, and the erection of the French Ecole de Sancte. In that, 
for the first time, clinical instruction was expressly commanded. 
At the present day, every good school has its establishment for 
clinical medicine connected with it; that is, a hospital, in which 
diseases can be seen and studied by those attending it. 

In Germany, the empirical, or experimental mode of studying 
medicine, was early given up for the more scientific form of lec- 
tures ; while in England and France, the opposite extreme took 
place, and students were carried, as they sometimes are still, to 
the bed-side of the sick, before they had been properly grounded 
in elementary studies. In Germany, there are very numerous 
journals, which contain clinical reports of cases, as there are so 
many clinical institutions appropriated to particular classes of dis- 
ease. In the American schools, clinical instruction is almost 
wholly overlooked, although some slight lectures of this descrip- 
tion are given by the physicians of hospitals. The clinical school 
is called ambulatory, when the patients attend only at particular 
hours ; and it is termed polyclinic, when the instructor and his 
pupils visit together the beds of the sick, 



CONTAGION. 485 



CONTAGION. 



This word properly imports the application of any poisonous 
matter to the body through the medium of touch. It is applied to 
the action of those very subtile particles arising from putrid sub- 
stances, or from persons laboring under certain diseases, which com- 
municate the disease to others ; as, the contagion of putrid fever, 
the effluvia of dead animal or vegetable substances, the miasmata 
of bogs and fens, the virus of small-pox, lues venera, etc., etc. 

The principal diseases excited by poisonous miasmata, are, in- 
termittent, remittent, and yellow fevers, dysentery, and typhus. 
The last is generated in the human body itself, and is sometimes 
called the typhoid fomes. Some miasmata are produced from 
moist vegetable matter, in some unknown state of decomposition. 
The contagious virus of the plague, small-pox, measles, chincough, 
cynanche maligna, and scarlet fever, as well as of typhus and the 
jail fever, operates to a much more limited distance through the 
medium of the atmosphere, than the marsh miasmata. Contact of 
a diseased person is said to be necessary for the communication of 
plague, and an approach within two or three yards of him, for 
that of typhus. The Walcheron miasmata extended their pesti- 
lential influence to vessels riding at anchor, fully a quarter of a 
mile from the shore. 

The chimical nature of all these poisonous effluvia is little un- 
derstood. They undoubtedly consist, however, of hydrogen, uni- 
ted with sulphur, phosphorus, carbon, and azote, in unknown pro- 
portions and unknown states of combination. The proper neu- 
tralizes or destroyers of these gasiform poisons are, nitric acid 
vapor, muriatic acid gas, and chlorine. The two last are the most 
efficacious, but require to be used in situations from which the 
patients can be removed at the time of the application. Nitric 
acid vapor may, however, be diffused in the apartments of the 
sick, without much inconvenience. Bed-clothes, particularly blan- 
kets, can retain the contagious fomes, in an active state, for almost 
any length of time. Hence, they ought to be fumigated, with pe- 
culiar care. The vapor of burning sulphur or sulphurous acid, is 



4S6 MISCELLANEOUS. 

used in the East, against the plague. It is much inferior in power 
to the other antiloimic reagents. 

There does not appear to be any distinction commonly made 
between contagious and infectious diseases. The infection com- 
municated by diseased persons, is usually so communicated by the 
product of the disease itself; for instance, by the matter of the 
small-pox; and, therefore, many of these diseases are infectious 
only when they have already produced such matter, but not in 
their earlier period. In many of them, contact with the diseased 
person is necessary for infection, as is the case with the itch, 
syphilis, and canine madness ; in other contagious diseases, even 
the air may convey the infection ; as in the scarlet fever, the mea- 
sles, the contagious typhus, etc. In this consists the whole differ- 
ence between the fixed and volatile contagions. A real infection 
requires always a certain susceptibility of the healthy individual; 
and many infectious maladies destroy, forever, this susceptibility 
of the same contagion in the individual, and, accordingly, attack a 
person only once, as the small-pox, measles, etc. Other conta- 
gious diseases do not produce this effect, and may, therefore re- 
peatedly attack the same persons ; as typhus, itch, syphilis, and 
others. Sometimes one contagious disease destroys the suscepti- 
bility for another ; as the kine-pox for the small-pox. 

In general, those parts of the body which are covered with the 
most delicate skin, are most susceptible to contagion; and still 
more so are wounded parts deprived of the epidermis. Against 
those contagious diseases which are infectious through the medium 
of the air, precaution may be taken by keeping at the greatest pos- 
sible distance from the sick, by cleanliness, and fearlessness; but 
most completely by the vigilance of the health officer, by fumiga- 
tions according to the prescriptions of Guyton Morvea, etc. We 
can more easily secure ourselves against such contagious diseases 
as are infectious only in case of contact, by means of cleanliness, 
caution in the use of vessels for eating and drinking, of tobacco- 
pipes, of wind-instruments, beds and clothes. No general preser- 
vative against contagious diseases is known, though many are of- 
fered for sale by quacks. The examination of the persons inten- 
ded for nurses and tenders of infants is very necessary, as thou- 
sands of children may be infected by contact with them, and the 
cause of the disorder remain unknown. 



ANTIDOTES. 487 



ANTIDOTES 



Antidotes, from two Greek words, signifying given against ; 
the means of counteracting the effects of poisons. The term anti- 
dote had, formerly, a much wider signification, and was applied to 
the remedies for diseases occurring from natural causes, as well as 
to the remedies for the derangement of the functions arising from 
the direct introduction into the system of a known and material 
poison. Doubtless every disease may be looked upon as spring- 
ing from some poison, as fevers from an altered and unhealthy 
state of the atmosphere, or eruptive and contagious diseases from 
the vitiated fluids or breath of one individual communicated to an- 
other, as small-pox and hooping-cough. This opinion is expres- 
sed by the employment of the term virus, or poison, to signify 
the immediate cause of such diseases, as when we speak of the 
small-pox virus, or the vaccine virus. But as, in the present day, 
the word antidote is used only to signify the means of counteract- 
ing the effects of poisons, strictly so called, we shall confine our 
observations to what is properly comprehended under the term 
when employed in this sense. While thus limiting its significa- 
tion, it is equally necessary that we should limit the application of 
the word poison. It is, however, extremely difficult to define what 
a poison is. Fodere considered poisons to be those substances 
known to be capable of rapidly altering or dertroying some or all 
of the functions necessary to life. This must be understood to ap- 
ply to their introduction (whether accidentally, intentionally on 
the part of the person suffering, or criminally on the part of others) 
into the body when in the usual state of health ; for there are cer- 
tain diseased conditions of the systems which seem to render it in- 
capable of being injuriously affected by doses of medicines which 
at another time would speedily destroy life ; and other states, such 
as when the body is under the influence of one poison, where an- 
other proves the most effectual remedy or antidote. This latter 
state is strikingly exemplified in the case of the bite of the coluber 
carinatus, a species of snake common in the West Indies, during 
the state of stupor or insensibility occasioned by which, a large 
quantity of arsenic may be given, not only with safety, but with 



4S8 MISCELLANEOUS. 

such advantage that the recovery of the patient may be considered 
as owing solely to it. To acquire a correct idea of the different 
ways in which poisons operate in destroying life, we must be made 
aware that what we commonly regard as an individual is made up 
of a number of distinct organs, which, though in some respects in- 
dependent of each other, yet exert a reciprocal influence, the har- 
monious play of the whole being necessary to the continuous exer- 
cise or display of the principle of life, and that a cessation of the 
functions of any one of the more important organs necessitates the 
successive suspension of the rest. The most essential of those are 
consnquently denominated the vital functions, Viz : the circula- 
tion, respiration, and enervation.' 

The circulation of red or arterial blood through the system, but 
especially through the nervous matter of the brain and spinal cord, 
is essential to the existence of the vital properties and due perform- 
ance of the functions of the different organs— which circulation is 
effected by the action of the heart; while, to render the blood ar- 
terial, respiration is necessary ; and this is effected by the lungs, 
assisted by a great number of muscles, the co-operation or simul- 
taneous action of which is occasioned by the influence of the spinal 
cord directed or influenced by the brain. Now, certain poisons 
act either solely on one of the organs and functions or upon two 
or three, but always in an ascertained order or uniform succession. 
Oxalic acid, (or the acid of sugar, as it is properly called,) for ex- 
ample, in a small dose, acts first on the brain and spinal cord ; but, 
in a larger dose, also affects the heart. In the former case, the 
respiration will be perceptibly interfered with, while the heart will 
go on acting, for some time ; in the latter case, both will cease at 
the same moment. Recovery, therefore, is much more probable 
in the first instance than in the second, for we can carry on artifi- 
cial respiration till the brain and spinal cord have resumed the ex- 
ercise of their functions ; but if, as in the second instance, the 
heart also has ceased to act, recovery is impossible. 

An arrangement of poisons, according to their mode of action, 
i. e. according to the order in which the vital functions are suc- 
cessfully affected and destroyed by them, would be of great utility 
in regulating our treatment, teaching us when to be content with 
the employment of antidotes alone, and when to employ supple- 
mentary means — as artificial respiration, blood-letting, etc. At 



ANTIDOTES. 489 

present we can only make an approximation to such an arrange- 
ment. Another point of consequence is the settlement of the ques- 
tion, do poisons act solely on the sentient extremities of the nerves 
of the part to which they are applied, and influence remote organs, 
only by sympathy : or are they absorbed into the circulatory flu- 
ids, and by them carried to the organs whose impaired or suspen- 
ded functions show them to be markedly affected by them ? With- 
out entering into this dispute, it may be stated that some poisons 
act in the one way, some in the other way, and a few in both. 
Of these, the first set are the most formidable and the most speedy 
in their action, allowing little time for the employment of antidotes. 
Some poisons act, but with different degrees of violence and 
speed, whatever part of the body they are applied to; others 
again, only when received into the stomach or intestines ; while 
some, such as the poison of the viper, are quite powerless when 
swallowed. 

Of all parts of the body, the brain and nervous substances are 
the least susceptible of the action of poisons, when applied else- 
where. With respect to the local operation of poisons, i. e. their 
direct action on the part to which they are applied, some decom- 
pose chimically, or alter the structure of (corrode) the part which 
they touch, and hence they are called corrosive poisons ; such 
are the mineral acids of which sulphuric or oil of vitriol may serve 
as an example. Besides this local effect, many of the corrosive 
poisons act speedily upon remote organs, the impaired functions 
of which may become a source of greater danger than the destruc- 
tion of the part first attacked. Other poisons, without immedi- 
ately altering the structure of the part, irritate it so that inflamma- 
tion ensues, by which it is altered, and the general system affect- 
ed as it would be by inflammation of the same part arising from 
any other cause, even when the poisonous substance does not pro- 
duce any immediate or powerful effect upon a remote organ — 
which is not often the case, as most of them influence some of the 
vital functions, and thus prove fatal. Those are termed irritant 
poisons, such as arsenic ; but they are frequently also termed cor- 
rosive, though inaccurately. Lastly, there are poisons which nei- 
ther corrode nor irritate the part, but cause a peculiar impression 
upon the sentient extremities of the nerves, which is conveyed 
along these to some remote organ or organs, the functions of which 
62 



490 MISCELLANEOUS. 

they impair and suspend. Many of these should be termed seda- 
tives, in the strictest sense of the word ; others are narcotics ; and 
those which produce some degree of local irritation, are termed 
narcotico-acrids. But one and the same article, according to the 
dose and mode of administration, acts in all the three ways ; to- 
bacco for example. The selection of appropriate means to coun- 
teract the effects of poisons, must be determined by a knowledge 
of the manner in which each particular poison acts ; but, as we 
cannot enumerate or specify these here, we shall give only general 
rules to this effect. These may be reduced to three, viz. 1st, To 
remove the poisonous substance. 2nd. To prevent or limit its 
local effect. 3d. To obviate its effect on remote organs, support- 
ing their action by appropriate measures, till the injurious impres- 
sion has subsided. The first of these is to be accomplished most- 
ly by mechanical means. If the poison has been applied to any 
external part, as by the bite of a viper or a rattle-snake, a cupping 
glass, or what will answer as well, a wine-glass, tumbler, or cup 
of any kind, from which a part of the air has been expelled, by 
holding within it a lighted candle for a second of time, should be 
immediately applied. If the poison has been taken into the sto- 
mach, and is yet of a kind to arrest instantly the action of the 
heart, its removal is to be attempted by the stomach-pump, or by 
exciting vomiting. The stomach-pump cannot well be used with- 
out introducing into the stomach a considerable quantity of water, 
which, by diluting the poison, lessens its violence, in all cases, 
except that of oxalic acid. The stomach-pump is also to be pre- 
ferred in the case of narcotic poisons, as the insensibility which 
they occasion prevents the stomach from being affected by emetics. 
But, should a stomach-pump not be at hand, nor any one be pre- 
sent skilled in the use of it, we must attempt to produce vomiting 
by every means in our power. 

For this purpose, a table spoonful of flour of mustard, which is 
mostly to be found in every house, may be put into a tumbler of 
warm water and given to the patient, or a scruple of sulphate of 
zinc, (whetto-vitrio,) dissolved in a pint of any distilled water ; or 
ten grains of sulphate of copper dissolved in half a pint of any dis- 
tilled water, as cinnamon, may be drank by the patient, and the 
disposition to vomit encouraged, by tickling the throat with a fea- 
ther, and pressing on the pit of the stomach. 



ANTIDOTES. 491 

Neither ipecacuanha nor tartar emetic should be given, as their 
action is always preceded by much nausea, during which the ab- 
sorption of the poison is often facilitated. Where the poison is 
of a corrosive or irritant nature, instead of losing time in seeking 
the means of causing vomiting, it is in general advisable to adopt 
the second rule, and attempt to prevent its local, and thereby its 
remote effects. 

To accomplish this, we must ascertain what the poisonous sub- 
stance was from which the patient is suffering, and must also know 
how it acts, as upon this depends the success of our treatment. 
The objects we have in view are either to dilate and so weaken it 
as to supply, from an external source, the particular principle 
which the poison would subtract from the coats of the stomach, 
or by adding something to it, and so change its nature as to render 
it comparatively, or altogether harmless, which last will always 
be effected if we can succeed in forming an insoluble compound. 
The first may be done by giving plenty of warm water ; and when 
we know the particular poison, if the warm water can be made 
the vehicle of an antidote, the second or third object will also be 
ensured. Suppose sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) has been swallow- 
ed, add to the water, chalk, magnesia, or soap ; the chalk will 
make, without the acid, sulphate of lime, which, being insoluble, 
will do no harm, while, with the magnesia, the acid will form sul- 
phate of magnesia, (Epsom salt,) and, with the soap, sulphate of 
potash, both of which are purgative salts, and will, by their action 
on the bowels, assist in lessening the inflammation caused by the 
poison before it was decomposed. So when sugar of lead (acetate 
of lead) is swallowed, by giving Epsom salts, we form an inso- 
luble sulphate of lead, which will be discharged by the bowels, 
operated upon by the magnesia, which has been freed from sul- 
phuric acid. Corrosive sublimate (chloride of mercury) abstracts 
from the coats of the stomach the albumen which they contain, by 
which it is converted into proto chloride, or calomel ; now, if by 
giving white of an egg, which is pure albumen, we supply it with 
the principle which it would otherwise obtain from the coats of 
the stomach, we shall preserve these entire. Such means, then, 
are antidotes, properly speaking ; for the means by which the se- 
condary or remote effects are to be combatted, deserve rather to 
be termed counter poisons. The counter poisons are of no small 



492 MISCELLANEOUS. 

value in cases of poisoning by the corrosive and irritants, while 
they are of the utmost importance in the treatment of the sedative 
and narcotic poisons. To administer these appropriately, we 
must know which of the vital organs the poison most speedily af- 
fects. When it affects the heart, the symptoms greatly resemble 
syncope, (or fainting ;) and, as such poisons are the most danger- 
ous, agents which act as rapidly as the poisons are alone to be 
trusted to ; such agents are to be found among the difFusible stimu- 
li ; ammonia, or its carbonate, i. e., smelling salts, applied to the 
nostrils, or dissolved in water and taken into the stomach ; warm 
brandy and water, etc., where it chiefly affects the spinal marrow, 
there occur spasms and difficulty of breathing; and, when the 
brain, there is a partial or complete insensibility, (coma,) often 
with, at first, full pulse, flushed face, and labored breathing, re- 
sembling apoplexy. In such a state of affairs, artificial respira- 
tion, and afterwards bleeding, with the subsequent administration 
of coffee or vinegar, greatly contribute to save the patient. "We 
have not spoken here of gaseous poisons, which would lead to un- 
necessary details. They act either by excluding the common at- 
mospheric air, in which case removal into pure air is required, or 
by producing inflammation like the irritant, or oppression of the 
brain like the narcotic poisons, and are to be combatted on similar 
principles. It will be more useful to append a list of the poisons 
which act on the brain, and of those which act on the heart. Of 
poisons which act upon the brain, the most common are alcohol, 
i. e., spirituous liquors, opium, henbane, hemlock, camphor, and 
essential oil of almonds, and of tobacco. Of those acting on the 
heart, the chief are infusion of tobacco and large doses of Prussic 
acid, fox glove, strychnia, (principle of nux vomica,) oxalic acid, 
arsenic, preparation or salts of antimony and of baryta, and seve- 
ral animal poisons. 

From what has been said on this subject, the great necessity of 
an acquaintance with it must be sufficiently clear not only to en- 
sure our doing right, but to prevent us from doing wrong. By 
administering an ill-timed antidote, (as we conceive it to be,) we 
often hasten the fatal event; as where vinegar is given, when 
opium has been swallowed, before it has been ejected from the 
stomach ; and, by throwing tobacco smoke into the stomach of a 
person apparently drowned, we extinguish the feeble spark of life 



NUTRITION. 493 

which might have sufficed to reanimate him but for such injudi- 
cious interference. It is to be hoped that more just principles of 
treatment will be diffused among the people, as well as among 
medical men, by which many lives may be preserved to their fa- 
milies and to the community. 

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE NUTRITION. 

Animal and vegetable matters constitute the food of animals and 
vegetables ; yet these matters nourish neither the animal nor veg- 
etable, until they have undergone certain preparatory processes, 
and are reduced to a fluid state. Solid substances, so long as they 
remain solid, can benefit neither. 

The soil is to plants what the stomach is to animals — the recip- 
ient of food — where it undergoes its first process of preparation, 
is broken down and blended with a solvent liquid. 

The spongeoles, or small roots of the plants, like the lacteals 
of the animal, take up the digested food, and send it to the leaves, 
as the lacteals do the lungs, for its perfect preparation as food. 

Leaves are to plants what lungs are to animals— the organs of 
respiration. The lungs retain oxygen, and give off carbon. The 
leaves part with oxygen, and inhale carbon when the sun shines 
upon them, and imbibe oxygen when it does not. Leaves are, in 
summer, as necessary to the health and growth of the vegetable, 
as lungs are to the health and growth of the animal. 

Heat, air, and water are essential in all the processes of nutri- 
tion, vegetable as well as animal. 

The ordinary temperature of the animal stomach is 98 degrees — 
hence animal digestion does not abate for want of heat. The de- 
composition of vegetable food, in the soil, ceases when the ther- 
mometer sinks below 40 degrees, and is most active at the tempera- 
ture of 80 degrees. 

Neither lungs nor leaves can perform their office healthfully, 
without access to fresh air, nor can decomposition take place with- 
out air. 

Water is a necessary solvent in the preparation of vegetable and 
animal food for the delicate mouths of the lacteals and spongeoles, 
and is no less indispensable as a medium of transmitting the food 



494 MISCELLANEOUS. 

to the lungs and the leaves, and from thence through the animal 
and vegetable structures. 

After the blood of the animal has been perfected in the lungs, it 
is conducted, by minute arteries, to every part of the body, and is 
transmuted into flesh, etc. After the sap has been elaborated in 
the leaves, it is conveyed, in like manner, to every part of the 
plant, and is then converted into wood, fruit, etc. 

Vegetables, like animals, may be injured by an excess of food; 
and when food is too concentrated, or too rich, the lacteals and the 
spongeoles become clogged, and unfit to transmit aliment to the 
lungs or leaves. 

A seed may be compared to an egg. One contains the germ of 
a chick, the other the germ of a plant. Nature has provided in 
their envelopes, the food proper for both, in infancy, and until 
they can provide for themselves. Through the agency of heat 
and air, the chick becomes animated, grows, and bursts its shell; 
and the seed germinates, grows, and bursts the earth. Both seem 
to require the exclusion of light. 

The elementary matters found in animals and vegetables are 
nearly the same- — the animal contains the most nitrogen, the vege- 
table the most carbon. Lime and iron are found in both. 

And in both, the power and the habit exist, of throwing off, 
through their excretory organs, matters blended with their food, 
not fitted to their wants, or not assimilating with the elements of 
their structure. Plants often exhale, or give off, like some ani- 
mals, a strong odor. 

As weeds are more commonly natural to the soil than cultivated 
crops, they are grosser feeders, and consume more food than the 
latter. Hence, they should not be permitted to rob the crops. ; 



SALINE BATH. 

The Saline Bath has lately been brought into pretty extensive 
use, by a number of physicians who have adopted our remedies, 
with the most salutary effect. In chronic diseases, where the sys- 
tem has become morbid, and where the liniments are not brought 
into full operation by the usual application, the Saline bath is 
found to answer a most valuable purpose. The mode of prepar- 



GALVANISM. 495 

ing it is as follows: Warm the water, and add salt enough to 
make a common brine, and fill a bathing-tub two-thirds full ; let it 
be as hot as the patient can bear; immerse the patient, and use 
the flesh-brush and friction with the hand freely while so im- 
mersed, which may be continued from five to fifteen minutes, ac- 
cording to the strength of the patient ; then wipe dry with flannel, 
and apply the liniment over the whole surface of the body. Much 
benefit has also been gained by a similar process in cases of fever 
and bilious cholic, rheumatisms, cramps, etc. 



APPLICATION OF GALVANISM TO POI- 
SONED WOUNDS. 

In Germany, a variety of experiments have been made, proving 
the successful application of galvanism, in place of caustics, to 
poisoned wounds. We shall mention some of them: — 

1. A dog had lately been bitten by a mad one, in the chest, 
causing a wound of two inches. After a lapse of fifty-four hours, 
the wound having dried up, it was for half an hour exposed to the 
influence of a galvanic battery of forty small plates. This appli- 
cation seemed to cause considerable pain, and produce the dis- 
charge of some blood from the wound ; subsequently a thick crust 
formed on it, which fell off on the eleventh day ; on the sixteenth 
day, the wound was completely healed, and the dog remained 
well. 

2. The poisonous saliva of the dog which had inflicted the 
above wound, was inoculated in both legs of another dog. After 
the lapse of fifty-four hours, galvanism was applied to the wound 
caused by the inoculation ; the crust formed over it fell off on the 
eigth day, on the twelfth day it perfectly healed, and the dog kept 
well. 

3. Another dog, inoculated with the same saliva as the last, was 
left to his fate, and died within ten days, of hydrophobia. From 
these and similar experiments, Doctor Peavaz draws the following 
results : 

1. Because he was still successful after an interval of fifty-four 
hours, physicians have sufficient time, in case of accident, to pro- 
cure a galvanic battery. 



496 MISCELLANEOUS. 

2. As the galvanic fluid operates also at some distance, he ad- 
vises its application also to deep wounds with fistulas, notwith- 
standing the application of caustics. 

3. That, by its peculiar nature, galvanism affords the advantage 
of destroying the poison even at some distance, and that it greatly 
counteracts absorption, by causing a contraction of the capillary 
vessels. 



GRANULATION. 



The little grain-like fleshy bodies which form on the surfaces 
of ulcers and suppurating wounds, and serve both for filling up 
the cavities and bringing nearer together and uniting their sides, 
are called granulations. Nature is active in bringing parts whose 
disposition, action, and structure, have been altered by accident or 
disease, as nearly as possible to their original state ; aud after hav- 
ing, in her operations for this purpose, formed pus, she immedi- 
ately sets about forming a new matter upon surfaces in which 
there has been a breach of continuity. This process has received 
the name of granulating, or incarnation. The color of healthy 
granulations is a deep florid red. When livid, they are unhealthy, 
and have only a languid circulation. Healthy granulations on an 
exposed or flat surface, rise nearly even with the surface of the 
surrounding skin, and often a little higher ; but when they exceed 
this, and assume a growing disposition, they are unhealthy, soft, 
spongy, and without any disposition to form skin. Healthy gra- 
nulations are always prone to unite. 

In all cases where the wounds above mentioned produce an un- 
healthy pus, or are inclined to fungus flesh, our Stimulating Lini- 
ment, applied directly to the wound, though severe at first, is an 
invaluable application. It uniformly produces a healthy action, 
and expedites a cure. 

HEREDITARY DISEASE. 

The influence of the parents on the organization of the child is 
so great, that even the individual peculiarities which distinguish 



HEREDITARY DISEASE. 497 

one man from another, are, in part at least, transmitted to his chil- 
dren ; hence the similarity in person and looks of the child to its 
parents- The internal organs, too, as well as the external form, 
have the same resemblance; so that the peculiar constitution, the 
greater or less activity and development of these organs, are found 
to pass from parent to child. Now, as it is the particular state of 
the several organs and functions in which a very great part of dis- 
ease have their foundation, it follows, that these diseases may be 
inherited, and, in fact, it has been observed, that the son is not 
unfrequently attacked by a disease, at the same period of life in 
which his father was. These diseases are called hereditary; but 
it is only the predisposition to them that is, properly speaking, in- 
herited. Hence the actual development of hereditary disease re- 
quires certain co-operating circumstances. Constitutional diseases 
are very often not hereditary, but depend on circumstances which 
affect the foetus during pregnancy. The father has no influence 
on the child, beyond the act of generation ; the mother operates 
upon it during pregnancy, and it is possible that hereby occasion 
may be given to hereditary disease. Among the diseases which 
are most frequently hereditary, are scrofula, bleeding, hemorr- 
hoids, consumption, gout, the gravel and stone, scirrhous and 
cancers, disorders of the mind and spirits, hysterical and hypo- 
chondriac affections, apoplexy, epilepsy, and organic diseases of 
particular parts, especially of the heart. They have this pecu- 
liarity, that they are produced, and appear as constitutional dis- 
eases, more from the action of internal than of external, of pre- 
disposing than of occasional causes. Such diseases are much 
more difficult to reach and to cure, than those which originate in 
accidental external causes. Hence it is especially necessary to 
prevent in season their growth and development. The means of 
doing this, are the following : 

1. Whoever has a hereditary predisposition to any disease, 
should not marry one who has the same constitution. For this 
reason, marriages between near relations are not advisable, as tend- 
ing to perpetuate such hereditary diseases. This, too, appears to 
be the reason why attachments are generally formed between per- 
sons of opposite constitution and different temperament. 

2. We ought to order all the circumstances in which the child 

63 



498 MISCELLANEOUS. 

grows up in such a way that the inherited predisposition may not 
only not be favored, but counteracted. 

3. The accidental occasions which favor the growth of the dis- 
ease, should be avoided, especially at the time of life in which the 
father was attacked by it. The medical treatment of hereditary 
diseases is not essentially different from that which is requisite in 
the same diseases arising under different circumstances. 



HISTORY OF THE SMALL POX. 

Of the numerous diseases to which mankind are exposed, the 
class denominated epidemic, or spreading diseases, is .attended 
with the most alarming interest. A malady of this sort may take 
its origin in the remotest district of an extensive country, and yet, 
if its progress be independent of the peculiarities of soil and cli- 
mate, it may soon come to overrun the whole. In the same way, 
although a spreading malady commence in one hemisphere of the 
globe, it may, after a time, invade the other, and its ravages know 
ultimately no bound, save those of human intercourse, and human 
existence. Those spreading diseases, from the great havoc they 
often commit, have been commonly known by the name of 
"plagues" and "pestilences." The word plague is apt to con- 
vey, to an unprofessional person, a very indefinite idea of some 
great calamity, which he is unable to describe ; but in reality, it is 
neither more nor less than a fever. All plagues, in medical lan- 
guage, are understood to have been fevers ; and they are distin- 
guished one from the other, by their types, or peculiar character 
of their symptoms. Thus, the Egyptian plague is a fever, which 
bears a strong resemblance to ordinary typhus, in producing an 
extreme depression of the constitutional powers of the patient; 
and it is distinguished from typhus, by being attended with swell- 
ings of the glands, in different parts of the body. The plague of 
London, which, in 1665, destroyed, within the bills of mortality, 
eight thousand persons in one week, was similar to that of Egypt. 
Varieties of the same virulent epidemic, are probably pointed at 
in the writings of Thucydides and Galen, as having prevailed in 
the earlier ages, at Athens and Rome. At all events, it seems 
certain, that during nearly one half of the sixth century, and a 



SMALL POX. 499 

several periods since, large portions of Europe, and of Asia, were 
devastated by the Egyptian scourge. 

Small pox is a plague which, previous to the practice of vaccina- 
tion, exercised a still more destructive power, even than the pre- 
ceding disease ; but it does not appear that the physicians of an- 
cient Greece or Rome, were at all acquainted with the small pox. 
For the traces of its earlier progress, we must look farther east. 

In the traditions of the people of China and Hindostan, small 
pox was enumerated as one of their common diseases ; and in 
some of their earliest books, devoted to religion and philosophy, 
descriptions of it have been found to exist. China or Hindostan, 
then, must be considered the cradle of small pox. We have no 
means, however, of ascertaining in which of the two it first ap- 
peared, or of offering a rational conjecture, to explain the manner 
of its first production, beyond the fact, that these countries have, 
from remote ages, swarmed with inhabitants, and been subject to 
dreadful inroads from famine, circumstances of themselves, emi- 
nently favorable to the generation of pestilence. 

According to the Chinese and Brahminical authorities, there is 
written evidence to show that small pox had been established in 
their respective countries, during a period of three thousand years 
and upwards. Although it had prevailed so long in China and Hin- 
dostan, the first notice of its appearance in Western Asia, cannot 
be dated earlier than the middle of the sixth century, and Europe 
was not invaded until a later period. The epoch to which we 
allude, as the recorded commencement of its western ravages, was 
the year 569, when the city of Mecca, in Arabia, was besieged 
by an army of Abyssian christians, under the command of Abreha, 
with the expectation of being able destroy the kaaba or pagan 
temple, contained within that city. In this army the small pox 
committed dreadful havoc, and we are told that measles made its 
appearance there at the same time. From the siege of Mecca, A. 
D. 569, to the siege of Alexandria, in 639, not any of the Arabian 
records that have come down to us, make mention of the progress 
of small pox. During this interval, however, the disease was 
undoubtedly propagated in various directions, in the wake of the 
victorious Arabs, who were assembled and led forth to war, under 
the banner of their prophet. War has ever been the ready dis- 
seminator of pestilence, and as Persia and Syria were soon after- 



500 MISCELLANEOUS. 

wards subdued by the successors of Mohammed, we may fairly 
conclude that small pox was imported, with its conquerors, into 
these countries, if it had not previously reached them. On the 
other hand, Amron, the lieutenant of the Caliph Omar, invaded 
Egypt in 638. In two years he captured Alexandria. It is con- 
jectured that small pox was communicated by the Mohammedan 
troops, to the inhabitants of this city, during the siege. Ahron, 
an author who lived in Alexandria at the time, wrote a treatise on 
small pox, to which Rhazes, the distinguished Arabian physician, 
alludes. Unfortunately, Ahron' s work has since been lost. The 
rapid and prolonged success, which now attended the Saracens by 
land and sea, opened new channels for the diffusion of small pox ; 
and in attempting to follow its progress westward, along the shores 
of the Mediterranean, we have no more certain guide than the 
chronological details of Saracenic conquest. Okba Ebn Nafe, 
the general of Amron, subdued that portion of Africa lying be- 
tween Barka and Zorveliah, including what now constitutes the 
piratical state of Tripoli. To him succeeded others, who pushed 
the dominion of the Saracens still further. In 712, their armies 
made a descent on Spain. After defeating Roderick, the last king 
of the Goths, they took Toledo, and eventually overrun the whole 
country. About the year 732 the Saracens crossed the Pyrenees. 
Consequently, with the period of this invasion, we may date the 
introduction of small pox into that kingdom. Small pox proba- 
bly reached Britain about the beginning of the ninth century ; but 
no distinct notice of this disease, is furnished by the writers of the 
the time. Sunk in the ignorance of the middle ages, they allowed 
the worst scourge that had ever thinned the human race, to pass 
without description ; or if mentioned at all in their meagre chroni- 
cles, it is only under the name of "plague," or of "consuming 
fire;" epithets then apparently applied to eruptive pestilence in 
common. When small pox enters a locality where it had not 
been before, its first effects are almost always more extensively 
destructive than any subsequent. Happily, -in the present day, 
we can form, from our own experience, no conception of the 
mortality, that in all probability marked its early course in Eng- 
land. 

A deadly pestilence, to one attack of which, every individual, 
in every rank in life, the highest as well as the lowest, is liable, 



SMALL POX. 501 

must necessarily have filled the country, from one extremity to the 
other, with sickness and with death. To aggravate the occur- 
rence of such an evil, no disease is, in itself, more loathsome than 
small pox. The victim of the attack, more particularly in the 
confluent variety, presents a most pitiable spectacle. In this form 
the patient is seen laboring under a fever with the most typhoid or 
putrid symptoms. He is, at the same time, completely covered 
from head to heel with pustules, which not unfrequently coalesce, 
and ultimately change the whole surface of his body into one 
continued sore, that renders his features undistinguishable to his 
dearest friends, and converts him into an object of disgust to their 
senses. Nor are the immediate sufferings and danger of death the 
only misfortunes attendant on small pox. In case the patient lin- 
ger through the fever, or finally survive the attack, it is often at 
the sacrifice of every thing considered desirable in personal ap- 
pearance. Beauty may be transformed into deformity ; and what 
is of far greater importance, by the loss- of sight, the patient may 
be condemned to pass the remainder of his life in total darkness. 
Countries which have received small pox comparatively in mod- 
ern times, afford striking examples of the magnitude of the calami- 
ty in its unmitigated terrors. In 1517, St. Domingo was infected. 
The island then contained, it is said, a million of Indians ; but 
this unfortunate people were altogether destroyed by small pox, 
and the murderous arms of their Spanish invaders. About 1520, 
small pox commenced in Cuba. From thence it was carried to 
Mexico. Within a short period, according to computations that 
have been made, the pestilence destroyed in the kingdom of Mexi- 
co alone, three millions and a half of the inhabitants. The em- 
peror, brother and successor to Montezuma, was among the vic- 
tims. At subsequent periods, different parts of the American 
continent suffered much. Whole nations of warlike Indians were 
almost extirpated, and piles of bones, found under the tufted trees 
in the interior of the country, have been supposed to bear testimo- 
ny to the ravages of small pox. Peculiarities of climate exercise 
no mollifying influence over the virulence of small pox. Iceland 
was invaded in the year 1707, and it suffered as much as the south 
em regions. The inroad destroyed sixteen thousand persons, 
more than a fourth of the estimated population of the island. 
Greenland escaped until 1733. In that year small pox appeared, 



502 MISCELLANEOUS. 

and carried off nearly all its inhabitants. Small pox is now fami- 
liar to every section of the globe ; but we hear of it no longer as 
a scourge to sweep away the population of an extensive district, 
with a rapidity and power approaching to those of the tornado. 
The beneficent Providence, which, for the fulfilment of its own 
mysterious purposes, tolerates the growth and extension of nume- 
rous plagues, has placed within the reach of human intelligence, 
numerous remedies, capable either of alleviating or of completely 
obviating their dangerous effect. Without the aid of inoculation 
and vaccination, it is calculated that at least one-fourteenth of every 
generation of mankind would perish beneath the deadly taint of 
small pox ; but that were inoculation generally practiced, the mor- 
tality would not amount to one in seventy of those on whom the 
operation had been performed ; and under the protective influence 
of vaccination, that one death is not to be expected in many hun- 
dreds of persons so treated. Inoculation has, of late years, been 
wisely abandoned by the medical profession. Vaccination is re- 
commended in its stead. 

Remark. — We are assured that our remedies have proved effec- 
tual in a number of cases of small pox and varioloid, where these 
diseases appeared as an epidemic. Our correspondents assure us 
that they have been enabled to overcome the disease with much 
ease, and that no failures have occurred. It is a long time since 
we have known that our remedies would cure the scarlet fever, 
chicken pox and measles. The number of small children who 
have been benefitted in our own city is very considerable ; in fact, 
we know not of a single failure. 

ANATOMY. 

The polypus receives new life from the knife which is lifted to 
destroy it. The fly-spider lays an egg as large as itself. There 
are 4041 muscles in a caterpillar. Hook discovered 14,000 mir- 
rors in the eyes of a drone, and to effect the respiration of a carp, 
12,000 arteries, veins, and bones, etc., are necessary. The body 
of every spider contains four little masses, pierced with a multitude 
of imperceptible holes, each one permitting the passage of a single 



PULSE. 503 

thread; all the threads, to the amount of 1000 to each mass, are 
joined together when they come out, and make the single threads 
with which the spider spins its web ; so that which we call a spi- 
der's thread consists of more than 1000 united. Lewenhock, by 
means of a microscope, observed spiders no bigger than a grain of 
sand, who spun thread so fine, that it took 4000 of them to equal 
in magnitude a single hair. 

How great must be that being, whose continual supervision up- 
holds in existence all the workmanship of his hands of such vast 
disproportions in magnitude ! 



THE PULSE. 



The pulse is nothing more than the beating of an artery. Every 
time the heart contracts, a portion of blood is forced into the arte- 
ries, which dilate or swell to let it pass, and then immediately re- 
gain their former size, until, by a second stroke of the same organ, 
a fresh column of blood is pushed through them, when a similar 
action is repeated. This swelling and contracting of the arteries, 
then, constitute the pulse, and consequently it may be found in 
every part of the body where those vessels run near enough to the 
surface to be felt. Physicians look for it at the wrist, from mo- 
tives of convenience. 

The strength and velocity of the pulse vary much in different 
persons, even in a state of perfect health. It is much quicker in 
children than in adults ; and in old men it grows slow and feeble, 
owing to the decreased energy of the heart. The pulse is in- 
creased both in strength and velocity by running, walking, riding 
and jumping; by eating, drinking, singing, speaking, and by joy, 
anger, etc. It is diminished in like manner by fear, want of nour- 
ishment, melancholy, excessive evacuations, or by whatever tends 
to debilitate the system. 

In feeling the pulse, then, of sick persons, allowance should be 
made for these causes ; or what is better, we should wait until 
their temporary effects have escaped. 

A full, tense, and strong pulse, is when the artery swells boldly 
under the finger, and resists its pressure more or less ; if, in addi- 



504 MISCELLANEOUS. 

tion to this, the pulsation be very rapid, it is called quick, full, and 
strong; if slow, the contrary. 

A hard, corded pulse, is that in which the artery feels like the 
string of a violin, or a piece of tightened cat-gut, giving consid- 
erable resistance to the pressure of the finger. 

The soft and • intermitting pulses are easily known by their 
names. In case of extreme debility, on the approach of death, 
and in some particular diseases, the artery vibrates under the finger 
like a thread. 

In feeling the pulse, three or four fingers should be laid on it at 
once. The most convenient spot to do this, as already mentioned, 
is the wrist; but it can be readily done in the temple, just before, 
and close to the ear, in the bend of the arm, at the under part of 
the lower end of the thigh, among the ham-strings, and on the top 
of the foot. 

There are two kinds of blood-vessels in the human body— arte- 
ries, and veins. The arteries carry the blood from the heart to 
the extremities of the body, where they are connected with the 
veins, which bring it back. An artery pulsates, or beats ; a vein 
does not. 



LIFE OF MAN 



The following curious observations on the duration of the life 
of man, as shown by the bills of mortality of various countries, is 
translated from the French : 

It is surprising to compare the different ravages of death in large 
cities and small villages. In the Pays du Vaud, and in the village 
of Brandenburg, the number of deaths, in the space of one year, 
is, with respect to the surveyors, in proportion of four to one hun- 
dred and eighty ; and in the town of Shrewsbury, in England, in 
the proportion of four to one hundred and thirty. On the con- 
trary, in London, four persons die out of eighty-three ; at Vienna, 
three out of eighty-seven ; and, at Berlin, four out of one hundred 
and six. This simple comparison sufficiently demonstrates the 
truth of the common observation that large populous cities are the 
sepulchres of the human race. 

The most exact calculations which have been made in France, 



LIFE OF MAN. 505 

Italy, Prussia, Holland, and Sweden, clearly show that, in all ages, 
more deaths happen among men than among women. By a list 
furnished by M. Susmich, at Berlin, it appears that four hundred 
and eighty-two males died under the age of one year, and only 
three hundred and sixty-six females. At Berlin, also, upon a cal- 
culation of four years, six thousand two hundred and ten males 
were born, eight thousand seven hundred and twenty-four females, 
which is almost twenty-one to twenty. 

M. Leparcieux, at Paris, and M. Wargentin, in Switzerland, 
plainly prove that women, in general, not only live longer than 
men, but that married women, in particular, have a singular ad- 
vantage over those who are unmarried. This is so manifest that, 
in one of the cantons in Switzerland, the number of maidens 
doubled that of the wives. 

But in that state of marriage, the wives live much longer than 
the husbands. At Breslaw, in the course of eight years, one thou- 
sand eight hundred and ninety-one married men died, and only 
one thousand one hundred and ninety-six married women. By an 
exact account taken in Pomerania, it appears that, in the course of 
nine years, thirteen thousand, five hundred and sixty-six married 
men died, and only ten thousand married women. In Scotland, it 
is calculated that, in thirty-one marriages, twenty of the men will 
die as soon as twelve of the women, and in that proportion ; but, 
in a state of widowhood, the case is quite different ; that situation 
is greatly in favor of the men. At Dresden, the exact register of 
deaths were kept for four years, which clearly proved that five 
hundred and eighty-four widows died during that period, and only 
one hundred and forty-nine widowers. At Wirtemburg, in the 
space of eleven years, three hundred and seventy-eight widows 
died, and but ninety widowers. At Gotha, the proportion is seven 
hundred and ninety widows to two hundred and ten widowers. 
In Pomerania, the difference is still greater. 

It is beyond a doubt that large cities tend to diminish popula- 
tion. Man, naturally fond of society, finds his destruction in so- 
ciety, or rather in the abuses of society. At Paris, Vienna, Am- 
sterdam, Copenhagen, and Berlin, the number of births is always 
considerably less than that of the deaths. On the contrary, where 
the air is more pure, where agriculture flourishes, and simplicity 
of manners is adopted, population increases with great rapidity. 
64 



506 MISCELLANEOUS. 

Dr. Herberclen informs us that, in the island of Madeira, the num- 
ber of inhabitants doubled in the course of eighty-four years ; and, 
in the American colonies, the augmentation is still more conside- 
able. 



ANTIARIS. 



Antiaris is the botanical name of the half-fabulous Upas Tree, 
of which so many idle stories were propagated some years since by 
travelers. It was said to be a large tree growing in the island of 
Java, in the midst of a desert, caused by its own pestiferous quali- 
ties ; exhalations were reported to be so unwholesome that, not 
onlv did they cause death to all animals which approached the 
tree, but even destroyed vegetation for a considerable distance 
round it; and, finally, the juice which flowed from its stem, 
when wounded, was said to be the most deadly of poisons. To 
approach the Upas Tree, even for the momentary purpose of 
wounding its stem and carrying away the juice, was stated to be 
so dangerous, none but criminals under sentence of death could be 
found to undertake the task. 

As is usual in such cases, this fable is founded upon certain na- 
tural phenomena which occur in Java. There is such a tree as 
the Upas, and its juice, if mixed with the blood in the body of any 
animal, is speedily fatal ; and there is also a tract of land in the 
same island on which neither animal nor plant can exist. But the 
two circumstances have no relation to each other. The poisoned 
tract is a small valley completely surrounded by a steep embank- 
ment, like the crater of a volcano, and is continually emitting from 
its surface carbonic acid gas, which is alike fatal to animals and 
plants. On the other hand, the poisonous Upas Tree is not an 
inhabitant of the valley, for nothing can live there, but it flourishes 
in the woods, in the midst of other trees, which are unharmed by 
its vicinity. In the eye of a botanist, the Upas is a species of the 
genus Antiaris, which belongs to the natural order Artocarpeoe, a 
group of plants, all of which abound in a milky juice, and many of 
which are extremely poisonous. Of the original species, Atoxi- 
caria, we have met with no scientific figure ; it is, however, culti- 
vated in the Botanical Garden at Calcutta, whence we have a leaf 



LIFE OF MAN. 507 

or two. They are very much like those of the following plant, 
Amacrophylla, which has been found on the north coast of New 
Holland. The genus Antiaris has its stamens and pistilla in se- 
parate flowers. The former are collected in little heads in the 
center of a minute three or four leaved calyx, of which a consider- 
able number is enclosed in a hairy involucrum formed of several 
fleshy divisions which are rolled inwards. The pistillum is sur- 
rounded by a calyx of several leaves terminating in a long two- 
parted style, and contains a single suspended ovulum. The pis- 
tilla and the antheri ferons flower-heads stand in pairs, side by 
side, in the axillae of the leaves. 



GLOSSARY. 



Abdomen, the belly. 

Abscess, a tumor containing pus, as a boil or other swelling. 
Abortion, the premature expulsion of the foetus from the womb. 
Acid, that which imparts to the taste a sharp or sour sensation. 
Acrid, sharp, pungent, corrosive or heating. 

Acrite, sharp, ending in a sharp point ; when applied to disease, 
means one which is attended with violent symptoms, and 
comes speedily to a crisis. 
Adipose, fat. 
Affusion, the act of pouring a liquid upon any other substance ; 

as of pouring water upon a diseased body. 
Albumen, a constituent part of the animal solids ; it exists abun- 
dantly in the whites of eggs. 
Alkali, a substance which neutralizes acid : saleratus, (a prepara- 
tion of pearl-ash.) is one of the principal alkalies used by the 
Thomsonians. 
Alvine, relating to the intestines, the discharges from which are 

termed alvine. 
Amenorrhea, an obstruction of the menses. 
Anodyne, any medicine which eases pain. 
Anthelmintics, medicines which expel or destroy worms. 
Anti-bilious, that which opposes or removes the great accumula- 
tion of bile. 
Antidote, a preservation against, or a remedy for diseases, and 

particularly for poisons. 
Anti-dysenteric, that which prevents or removes the dysentery. 
Anti-emetic, that which opposes or removes vomiting. 
Anti-morbific, that which prevents or removes disease. 
Anti-septic, that which removes or tends to prevent putrefaction. 
Anti-spasmodic, that which removes or tends to prevent spasms. 
Anti-syphilitic, that which removes or prevents venereal disease. 



510 GLOSSARY. 

Antiphlogistic, the mode of treatment adopted by the medical fa- 
culty, to weaken the system and diminish the vital power. 
Bloodletting, purging and leeching are among the antiphlo- 
gistic remedies. 

Anus, the fundament. 

Aperients, medicines which operate gently on the bowels. 

Aromatic, fragrant; a plant which yields a pleasant spicy" smell, 
or a warm, pungent taste. 

Ascites, dropsy of the belly. 

Asphyxia, apparent death ; suspended animation. 

Asthenia, a term used by Dr. Brown to signify diminished vital 
energy. 

Astringent, that which corrects looseness and debility, by render- 
ing the solids denser and firmer ; known by its puckering ef- 
fect upon the mouth. 

Belching, the act of ejecting wind from the stomach by the mouth. 

Bile, a bitter fluid, secreted by the liver, and poured into the in- 
testines, to assist in the process of digestion. 

Bronchia, the air-tube in the lungs. 

Bronchocele, a disease which is marked by a tumor on the fore 
part of the neck, and seated between the trachea and skin, 
occupying generally the thyroid gland. 

Bubo, a swelling on the groin. 

Caloric, heat. 

Calculi, small concretions, or stones which are found in the kid- 
neys. 
Canker, a false membrane or pseudo membranous lining of the 
stomach and bowels ; in chronic cases, it is hard and tough, 
and of a grayish color. 
Capillary vessels, the small ramifications of the arteries and veins. 
Carbon, a name applied by chimists to charcoal. 
Carbonic acid gas, fixed air ; a compound of carbon and oxygen. 
It may be found by burning charcoal ; it is emitted also by 
bodies in a state of vinous fermentation ; it is often found, 
also, in a state of nature, at the bottom of wells, caverns, etc.; 
hence the sudden death, sometimes, occasioned by a descent 
into those places. 
Cartilage, an elastic substance, usually termed gristle, which con- 
nects the bones, and assists their movements upon each other. 
Carminative, a medicine which expels wind. 
Cathartic, that which causes purging of the intestines. 
Catheter, a hollow tube for drawing off the urine. 
Caustic, a burning application. 
Cellular, a little cavity or cell. 



GLOSSARY. 511 

Cerebral, relating to the brain. 

Chancre, a venereal ulcer, or sore, caused by the direct applica- 
tion of the virus. 

Choleric, easily irritated. 

Chronic, a term applied to diseases of long-standing ; the opposite 
of acute. 

Chyme, the food in a state of digestion, which passes from the 
.stomach into the intestines, and mixes with the bile. 

Chyle, the milk-like fluids in the lacteal vessels. 

Clinical, pertaining to the bed-side lectures or observations at the 
bed-side of the patient. 

Clonic, to move to and fro. 

Clyster^ injection. 

Colliquative, any excessive discharge from the body, as colliqua- 
tive stools, colliquative sweats. 

Coma, stupor, drowsiness. 

Concrete, a uniform mass or layer. 

Congestion, undue accumulation of blood. 

Conjunctiva, a membrane of the eye. 

Constipation, costiveness. 

Constriction, a drawing together, or contraction, as from cold. 

Contagious, catching; that which may be communicated from 
one person to another, by contact, or by a subtile excreted 
matter. 

Convulsions, involuntary contractions of the muscles. 

Costive, bound in the body ; restringent. 

Costiveness, the state of the body in which excretion is obstructed. 

Cuticle, a thin white membrane ; the outer skin. 

Decumbent, declined or bending down. 

Delirium, an alienation of mind, or wandering of the senses, 
caused by the violence of fever. 

Diagnosis, the signs by which a disease is known. 

Diaphoretic, that which from being taken, internally, promotes 
perspiration, or discharges by the skin. 

Diaphragm, a muscle, or partition between the chest and abdo- 
men. 

Diarrhea, a purging ; a looseness of the belly. 

Diuretics, medicines which increase the flow of urine. 

Digest, to dissolve ; the action of a solvent on any substance. 

Drastic, violent, powerful. 

Dropsy, a collection of serous fluid in the cellular membrane in 
the vicera and the circumscribed cavities of the body. 

Duodenum, the first portion of the small intestines. 

Dysentery, a purging attended with bloody stools. 

Dyspnoea, difficulty of respiration ; oppressed breathing. 



512 GLOSSARY, 

Dyspepsia, a difficulty of digestion. 
Dysuria, difficulty and pain in passing urine. 

Endemic, a term applied to diseases which are especially prevalent 
in certain localities or districts. 

Effluvia, exhalations from diseased bodies or other substances? 
whether noxious or otherwise. 

Ejection, discharges from the stomach by vomiting. 

Emetic, a medicine which provokes vomiting. 

Enema, a clyster or injection. 

Engorgement, a stagnation of fluids in a part. 

Epidemic, a contagion, or other disease, that attacks many people 
at the same season, and in the same place. 

Epidermis, the outer skin, called the scarf shin. 

Epigastric region, the portion of the abdomen immediately over 
the stomach. 

Epispastics, substances which blister the skin, as Spanish flies. 

Eruptive, the bursting forth of humors on the surface of the skin, 
in the form of pustules, etc. 

Erratic, Avandering, irregular. 

Erysipelas, St. Anthony's fire. 

Etiology, relating to the cause and origin of diseases. 

Exacerbation, an increase of fever. 

Excretive, having the power of separating and ejecting fluid mat- 
ter from the body. 

Excrement, the alvine discharges or stools. 

Excretions, useless substances which are discharged from the 
body, as urine and perspirable matter. 

Excitability, that condition of the body which renders it suscep- 
tible of stimulant impressions. 

Exfoliate, to scale off, as a piece of dead bone. 

Exhalents, small vessels or pores which convey the perspirable 
matter out of the system. 

Exhibition, the administration of medicine. 

Exotic, foreign; not a native. 

Expectorant, medicines which increase the discharge of mucus 
from the lungs. 

Febrile, pertaining to, or indicating fevers. 

Flaccid, soft; yielding. 

Flatulency, windiness in the stomach and intestines. 

Flour Albus, whites or Leucorrhea. 

Fomentation, a sort of partial bathing, by applying flannels dipped 
in hot water, or medical decoctions, to any part. 

Formula, a physician's prescription ; a written or specified form. 

Function, the action or office performed by any organ, as the func- 
tions of the heart; the functions of the liver. 



GLOSSARY. 513 

Fundament, see anus. 

Fur, a coat of morbid matter collected on the tongue of a diseased 

person, especially in fevers. 
Fasces, the stools, or alvine discharges. 

Gas, a permanently elastic uniform fluid. 

Gastric, appertaining to the stomach. 

Gangrene, mortification. 

Gargle, a medicated preparation for washing the mouth and throat. 

Gestation, the period of pregnancy. 

Gland, a part of the body destined for the secretion of some par- 
ticular fluid. The salival glands secrete the saliva; the liver, 
which is also a gland, secretes the bile. 

Granulation, the act of forming into small grains. 

Gravid, pregnant. 

Gonorrhoea, a puriform discharge from the urethra with or without 
dysuria, lascivious inclination, and not following an impure 
connection, in many instances. 

Hectic, habitual ; denoting a slow, continual fever, marked by pre- 
ternatural, though remitting heat, which accompanies the con- 
sumption, etc. 

Herniphlegy, a palsy that affects one half or side of the body. 

Hemorrhage, fluxes of blood, proceeding from the rupture of a 
blood-vessel, or some other cause. 

Hemorrhoidal, pertaining to the vessels which are the seat of the 
hemorrhoids or piles. 

Hernia, a rupture. 

Herpetic, having the character of a tetter. 

Hydrocele, a disease of the testicles. 

Hydrocephalus, dropsy in the head. 

Hydrogen, an aeriform fluid gas, of the lightest body known, and 
is used for inflating balloons. It forms one of the elements 
of water, being about fifteen parts to one hundred of that li- 
quid ; and is fatal to animal life. 

Hoemoptysis, bleeding from the lungs. 

Hypochondriasis, the vapors ; spleen ; a disease which is attended 
by languor or debility, lowness of spirits or melancholy ; the 
sufferer often apprehending great evil to himself. 

Hysterics, a disease of women, characterised by spasmodic affec- 
tions of the nervous system, and often attended by hypochon- 
driacal symptoms. 

Iatroleptic, the method of curing disease by unction and fric- 
tion — the administration of medicine by cutaneous absorp- 
tion. 

Icterus, jaundice. 

65 



514 GLOSSARY. 

Idiopathic, a term used to designate a disease which exists inde- 
pendent of any other; opposed to symptomatic disease, 
which is dependent on another. 

Ichorous, a thin aqueous and acrid discharge. 

Infectious, that which taints or corrupts ; having qualities which 
may communicate disease from one to another. 

Infusion, the liquid procured by steeping any substance in cold 
water. 

Inguinal, relating to the groin. 

Inoculation, the insertion of poison into any part of the body. 

Inspiration, the act of drawing air into the lungs. 

Intermittent, a disease which ceases for a time and then returns, 
as agues, etc. 

Irritability, the capacity of being moved or excited into action. 

Lacteals, vessels which arise from the intestinal coats of the small 
intestines and absorb the chyle, which is conveyed to the 
throracic duct and finally converted into blood. 

Lamine, a scale or plate. It is used for the foliated structure of 
bones or other organs. 

Laxative, a medicine that relaxes the bowels ; a gentle purgative. 

Lethargy, a morbid drownsiness or sleepiness ; a continued or 
profound sleep, from which a person can scarcely be awaken- 
ed, and if waked, remaids stupid. 

Leucorrhea, the whites, generally termed fluor albus. 

Ligament, a strong, elastic membrane, by which the joints are 
connected together. 

Lithotomy, a surgical operation, for the removal of stone in the 
bladder. 

Local, confined to a particular part. 

Loins, the small of the back. 

Lumbago, rheumatism in the loins. 

Lumbar region, a term applied to the loins. 

Lymph, a colorless fluid, separated from the blood, and contained 
in small vessels called lymphatics. 

Mania, delirium; madness. 

Malaria, poisonous exhalations from marshes and putrifying sub- 
stances. 

Materia Medica, that branch of medical science which treats of 
the nature and properties of substances employed for the 
cure of diseases. 

Matrix, the womb. 

Membrane, a thin flexible skin, serving to cover some part of the 
body. 

Metastasis, the translation of disease from one part to another. 



GLOSSARY. 515 

Menstrum, the name given to any liquid, into which a substance 
is put to extract its virtues ; water, for instance, is the men- 
strum of all salts, vegetable gums, and animal jellies; recti- 
fied spirits of wine is the menstrum of essential oils and 
vegetable resins. 

Miasm, synonymous with malaria. 

Molar Teeth, the double or grinding teeth. 

Morbid, diseased. 

Morbific, relating to disease. 

Mucilage, a fluid of a thick, shiny, ropy and soft consistence. 

Mucus, a transparent, saline, glutinous fluid. 

Muscles, portions of the flesh, susceptible of contraction and re- 
laxation. 

Narcotic, a medicine which has the power of procuring sleep by 
stupefaction. 

Nausea, an inclination to vomit, without effecting it ; also a dis- 
gust of food, approaching to vomiting. 

Nephretic, affections of the kidneys. 

Nerves, long white cords, which have their origin in the brain and 
spinal marrow, and are distributed to every part of the body. 
It is the nerves which render us sensible of pain. 

Nervine, anything that affords relief from disorders of the nerves. 

Neuralgia, pain of the nerves. 

Nucleus, anything about which matter is collected. 

Nitrogen, an elementary, gaseous fluid, incapable of supporting 
animal life ; composing about four-fifths of the atmospheric 
air. 

Nosology, a systematic arrangement of diseases into classes, or- 
ders, genera, and species. 

Obtuse, when applied to pain, means dull, not sharp or acute. 

(Edma, a swelling from a dropsical collection between the skin 
and muscles. 

Olfactory, relating to the sense of smelling. 

Ophthalmia, inflammation of the eyes. 

Organic Affection, a disease in which the structure of a part is 
deranged. 

Organ, a part which has a determined office in the animal econo- 
my. 

Ossified, changed into bone. 

Oxygen, the great supporter of animal life. It forms about one- 
fifth of the atmospheric air, and is a constituent part of all 
bodies in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Without oxy- 
gen we could not breathe, nor without it could there be any 
combustion. 



516 GLOSSARY. 

Pancreas, a soft, suple gland, situated in the lower part of the 
abdomen, which secretes a kind of saliva, and pours it in the 
duodenum. 
Palpitation, a fluttering or convulsive motion. 
Paralysis, a pals}?-. 

Parotid, the name of certain glands, below and above the ear. 
Paroxysm, 1st, an obtuse increase of the symptoms of a disease, 
which lasts a certain time, and then declines ; 2d, a periodical 
attack or fit of a disease. 
Pathognomonic, a term given to those symptoms which are pe- 
culiar to disease, and without which the disease does not 
exist. 
Pathology, the doctrine of diseases. 
Pectoral, pertaining to the breast. 
Peripneumony, inflammation of the lungs. 
Peristaltic, the worm-like motion by which the intestines push 

forward their contents. 
Perspiration, evacuation of the fluids of the body through the 

pores of the skin ; the matter perspired, or sweat. 
Petechia, a red, purple spot. 

Phlegm, a thick, tenacious mucus, secreted in the lungs. 
Phlemasia Dolens, the big leg which sometimes happens to lying- 
in women. 
Plethoric, fullness of blood. 

Pleura, a membrane which lines the internal surface of the thorax 

or chest. Inflammation of this membrane is termed pleurisy. 

Pleuritic, of the character of pleurisy, attended with pain in the 

side of the chest. 
Polypus, a tumor which is generally narrower where it originates, 

and then becomes wider somewhat like a pear. 
Predisposition, that state of the body which renders it susceptible 

of any particular disease. 
Primse Viae, a term applied to the stomach and intestinal tube. 
Prolapsus, a falling out, or falling down, of some part of the 

body. 
Prolific, fruitful. 

Proximate, nearest; next; a proximate cause is that which im- 
mediately precedes and produces any particular effect. 
Pulmonary, relating to the lungs. 
Pungent, sharp; biting; prickling; stimulating. 
Purges, } medicines which increase the intestinal discharges 
Purgatives, 5 by stool. 

Purulent, having the appearance or qualities of pus. 
Pus, matter; a whitish, cream-like fluid, found in inflamed ab- 
scesses, or on the surface of sores. 
Pustules, small pimples, or eruptions on the skin, containing pus* 



GLOSSARY. 517 

Putrescent, becoming putrid ; tending to putrefaction. 

Pyrexia, fever. 

Pyrosis, water-brash; heart-burn. 

Quartan, an ague which returns every fourth day. 
Quotidian, an ague which returns daily. 

Radical, pertaining to the root. 

Rectum, the last portion of the intestines, terminating in the anus. 
Refrigerating, cooling; allaying heat of the body or blood. 
Region, a term applied to the respective divisions of the body. 
Remittent, to abate in violence for a time, without intermission. 
Resolution, the dispersing of a tumor, or inflammation, without 

suppuration. 
Respiration, act of breathing. 
Retching, straining to vomit. 
Rigidity, stiffness ; want of pliability ; the quality of not being 

easily bent. 
Rigor, a sense of chilliness, with shivering and contraction of the 

skin. 
Rubefacient, a substance which, when applied a certain time to 

the skin, induces a redness without blistering. 

Saliva, spittle. 

Salivation, an inordinate flow of the saliva, accompanied with 
irritation of the mouth and gums. 

Sanguine, abounding with blood ; plethoric. 

Sanguineous, relating to the blood. 

Scirrhus, a hardening of a gland, which generally terminates in 
cancer. 

Scrotum, the skin which covers the testicles. 

Secretion, that which is derived or separated from the blood. The 
tears, saliva, bile, etc., are termed secretions. 

Sedative, that which diminishes the vital energy. 

Sedentary, accustomed to sit much. 

Sensorium, the brain, the center of feeling. 

Septic, relating to putrefaction. 

Serum, the watery portion of the blood. 

Skeleton, the articulated dry bones of an animal. 

Slough, a separation of the dead from the living flesh. 

Spasms, cramp; convulsions. 

Spasmodic, pertaining to cramp or convulsions. 

Sphacelus, gangrene; mortification. 

Spinal, relating to the back-bone. 

Spleen, the milt. A spongy viscus, placed on the left side, be- 
tween the eleventh and twelfth false ribs. 

Stomachus, the stomach. 



518 GLOSSARY. 

Stimulants, medicines which excite the system into increased ac- 
tion. 

Stool, an evacuation from the bowels. 

Strangury a difficulty of voiding urine, attended with pain. 

Sterility, barrenness. 

Strumous, scrofulous. 

Styptic, that which stops the discharges of blood. 

Subsultus, weak convulsive motions of the tendons. 

Sudorific, that which produces perspiration ; synonymous with 
diaphoretic. 

Suppuration, the formation of pus, or matter, in inflammations, 
tumors, etc. 

Sutures, the seams which unite the bones of the skull. 

Symptomatic the consequence of some other affection. 

Syncope, fainting or swooning. 

Synocha, inflammatory fever. 

Syphilis, the venereal. 

Tenesmus, a continual and urgent desire to go to stool, without a 

discharge. 
Tenia capitis, scald-head. 

7. ense, / stretched ; strained to stiffness ; rigid. 

Tepid, moderately warm. 

Tertian, a disease whose paroxysms return every other day. 

Tetanus, the locked jaw. 

Therapeutic, relating to the employment of remedies. 

Thorax, the chest. 

Titillation, tickling. 

Tonic, a medicine that increases the strength or tone of the ani- 
mal system. 

Tonsils, an oblong gland in the fauces. 

Topical, confined to a particular part. 

Tormina, griping pain. 

Transpiration, the passage of useless matter from the body, 
either through the pores of the skin, or from the lungs. 
Hence we say cutaneous transpiration, and pulmonary 
transpiration. 

Tremor, an involuntary trembling. 

Tubercles, small hard tumors, generally found in the lungs. 

Tumefy, to swell. 

Tumor, a morbid swelling or enlargement of a particular part. 

Turbid, muddy, cloudy, dirty. 

Typhoid, resembling typhus ; weak, low. 

Ulcer, a sore which discharges pus, or matter. 
Ulceration, the process of forming into an ulcer. 



GLOSSARY. 519 

Urethra, the membranous canal by which the urine is conducted 

from the bladder and discharged. 
Ureters, the tubes which convey the urine from the kidneys to the 

bladder. 
Uterine, appertaining to the uterus. 
Uterus, the womb. 
Uvula, a small conical fleshy substance hanging near the root of 

the tongue, commonly called the palate. 

Vaccination, the act of inoculating persons with the cow-pox. 

Vagina, the canal which leads to the womb. 

Veins, vessels which convey the blood to the heart. 

Venous, pertaining to the veins. 

Ventricles, the two cavities in the heart which propel the blood 
into the arteries. 

Vermifuge, a substance that destroys or expels worms from ani- 
mal bodies. 

Vertigo, dizziness ; giddiness of the head. 

Vesication, blistering. 

Viscera, plural of viscus. 

Viscid, glutinous; sticky. 

Viscus, a name applied to the organs contained in the thorax or 
abdomen, as the lungs, liver, etc. 

Volatile, capable of wasting away suddenly from exposure to the 
air. 



INDEX 



PART I. 



Ague, - - 120 

treatment of, - - 121 

Angina Pectoris, - - 245 

treatment of, - - 247 

Apoplectic Fits, - - 285 

treatment of, - - 285 

Asthma, - - - 212 

treatment of, - 213 

Atrophy, - - 251 

treatment of, - - 252 

Blood, spitting of, - - 181 

treatment of, - 183 

voiding of by urine, - 184 

treatment of, - 185 

Bronchocele, - - 265 

treatment of, - - 267 

Calculus, - 175 

Cancer Preparations, - 45 

Catarrh, - - - 191 

treatment of, - - 192 

Cerate, Vegetable, 35 

Chilblains, - 205 

treatment of, - - 206 

Cholera, - - - 83 

incipient stage of, - 93 

treatment of, - 105 

febrile stage of, 95 

treatment of, - 109 

cold, or choleric stage of, 94 

treatment of, - 106 

treatment with our remedies, 111 

appearances after dissection, 99 

diagnosis of, 98 

nature of, - - 101 

prognosis of, - 97 

proportionate mortality of, 104 

proximate cause of, - 111 

67 



Cholera Morbus, 

treatment of, 
Colic, 

treatment of, 
Congestion, - 

treatment of, 
Consumption, Pulmonary, 

treatment of, 
Cough, 

treatment of, 
Cough, Hooping, 

treatment of, ' - 
Cretinism, 

treatment of, 
Croup, 

. treatment of, 

Derangement, Mental, 

treatment of, 
Diabetes, 

treatment of, 
Diarrhea, 

treatment of, 
Drops, Alterative, 

Diaphoretic, - 
Female, 
Dropsy, 

treatment of, 
Dysentery, - 

treatment of, 
Dyspepsia, 

Lotion for, 

treatment of, 

Enteritis, 

treatment of, 
Epileptic Fits, 

treatment of, 



167 
168 
169 
170 
257 
258 
123 
128 
131 
134 
193 
194 
265 
267 
200 
202 

151 

156 

255 

256 

165 

166 

42 

40 

41 

239 

242 

171 

172 

139 

44 

150 

203 
204 

286 
236 



530 



INDEX. 



Erysipelas, - 
treatment of, 

Fever, in general, 
treatment of, 
Scarlet, - 

treatment of, 
Spotted, - 

treatment of, 
Yellow, - 

treatment of, 

treatm't by our 
Fits, Apoplectic, 
treatment of, 
Epileptic, 

treatment of, 
Hysteric, 

treatment of, 

Gravel and Stone, 
treatment of, 

Head-ache, Sick, 
treatment of, 
Health Restorative, - 
Hematuria, - 

treatment of, 
Hemoptysis, - 

treatment of, 
Hemorrhage, 

treatment of, 
Hemorrhoids, 

treatment of, 
Hernia, 

treatment of, 
Herpes, 

treatment of, 
Hydrocephalus, 

treatment of, 
Hydrophobia, 

treatment of, 
Hypochondriasis, 

treatment of, 
Hysterics, 

treatment of, 
Hysteric Fits, 

treatment of, 
Hysteritis, 

treatment of, 

Icterus, 

treatment of, 
India, Cholera in, 
Influenza, 

treatment of, 

Jaundice, 

treatment of, 



204 
205 

47 

57 

83 

83 

72 

78 

60 

65 

remedies, 69 

285 

285 

286 

286 

286 

287 

177 

178 

214 
214 
39 
184 
185 
181 
183 
183 
184 
186 
187 
236 
237 
226 
- 228 
272 
275 
277 
281 
157 
159 
160 
161 
286 
287 
206 
208 

259 

260 

85 
284 



Kings Evil, - - 217 

treatment of, - - 219 

Leprosy, - - - 253 

treatment of, - - 254 

Leucorrhea, - 209 

treatment of, - 210 

Life, Essence of, 42 

Lithiasis, - 177 

Liniment, for Cholera Morbus, 27 

Coughs and Consumption, 29 

Fevers, and Fever and Ague, 23 

Head-ache, 33 

Laxative, . - - 34 

Nervous Affections, -• 25 

Rheumatism, 31 

Stimulating, - - 19 

Measles, - - - 194 

treatment of, - - 197 
Menstruation, Obstructed, - 248 

treatment of, - - 248 

Mental Derangement, - 151 

treatment of, - - 156 

Milk-sickness, - - 282 

treatment of, - - 283 
Mind, Depressed state of, - 162 

treatment of, - - 163 

Morbus, Cholera, - - 167 

treatment of, - - 168 

Mortification, -• - 249 

treatment of, - - 251 

Mumps, - - - 198 

treatment of, - - 200 

Neck, Swelled, - - 265 

treatment of, - - 267 

Nervous Diseases, - - 261 

treatment of, - - 262 

Ointment, Itch, 38 

Venereal, 36 

Parotitis, - - 198 

treatment of, - - 200 

Pectoris, Angina, - - 245 

treatment of, - - 247 

Phlegmasia Dolens, - - 267 

treatment of, - 271 

Phthisis, - - 123 

treatment of, - - 128 

Piles, - - - 186 

treatment of, - - 187 

Plague, - - 113 

treatment of, - - 117 
Polypus, ... 238 

treatment of, - - 238 

259 Prolapsus Uteri, - 211 

260 treatment of, - - 212 







INDEX. 




531 


Quinsy, 


_ 


189 


Swelling, White, 


. 


231 


treatment of, 


- 


191 


treatment of, 


- 


233 








Syphilis, 


- 


223 


Rheumatism, 

treatment of, 


- 


134 
136 


treatment of, 
Syrup, Vegetable, 


- 


225 
39 


Rubeola, 

treatment of, 


■ - 


194 

- 197 


Tetter, 

treatment of, 


- 


226 

228 








Tic Douloureux, 


- 


262 


Salve, Pile, - 


- 


35 


treatment of, 


- 


263 


Tetter, - 


- 


36 


Tincture, Pectoral, 


- 


41 


Sanative, Nerve, 


- 


43 


Tinea Capitis, 


- 


228 


Scald-head, - 


- 


228 


treatment of, 


- 


229 


treatment of, 


- 


229 








Scrofula, 


- 


217 


Uteri, Prolapsus, 


- 


211 


treatment of, 


- 


219 


treatment of, 


- 


212 


Scurvy, 


- 


- 221 








treatment of, 


- 


222 


Wash, Brown, 


- 


44 


Stomach, Sick, 


- 


282 


White Swelling, 


- 


231 


treatment of, 


- 


283 


treatment of, 


- 


233 


Stone, 


- 


175 


Whitloe, 


- 


235 


Sunderland, Cholera in, 


92 


treatment of, 


- 


235 


Swelled Leg, 


- 


267 


Womb, Inflammation of, 


206 


treatment of, 


- 


271 


treatment of, 


- 


208 



PART II. 



Abdomen, Distention of, - 354 

Ague Cake, case of, - - 313 

Ague, Quotidian, - 328, 371 

Tertian, - 370, 371 

Albus, Fluor, - - 368 

Ancle, Ring-bone in, - 316 

Asthma, cases of, - 319, 347 

Back, Pains in, - 299, 305 

Blood, Spitting of, - - 346 

Bowel Complaint, cases of, 306, 340 
" " " 342, 346 

Bowels, Constipation of, - 342 
Bladder, Inflammation of, 355 

Breast, female, Risings on the, 297 
Bronchocele, - 323, 328, 349 
Bruises, cases of, 296, 306, 331, 342 
Burns and Scalds, - 296, 306 

Bones, Pains in, - - 304 



Canker Sores, case of, 
Cartilage, of the hand, Injury of, 
Cases, Interesting, 317, 363, 
Child, Remarkable case and cure 

of, ... 

Chills and Fever, 300, 306, 323, 
Cholera, - 296, 307, 330, 
Cholera Infantum, - 326, 
Cholera Morbus, 302, 306, 

Cholera Morbus and Fever, 

severe case of, 



297 
363 
367 



335 
339 
336 
320 

320 



Colic, Bilious, 306, 
Chronic Diseases, 324, 
Consumption, cases of, 

" " ;_ 358, 

Copper-head, Bite of, 
Cough, Hooping, 296, 
Cough, 296, 300, 

of 13 years' standi 
Croup, cases of, 



330, 336, 350 

343, 361, 336 

333, 346, 357 

365, 367, 368 

329 

340, 355, 376 

319, 322, 347 

ng, cured, 313 

322, 349 



Debility, General, 

Delirium, - - 297, 

Derangement, Mental, 291, 322, 

55 55 

Diarrhea and Fever, 297, 302, 

» " 376, 

Dropsy, - - 297, 

Drowning, case of Suspended 

Animation by, 
Dysentery, - - 318 

Dyspepsia, 296, 297, 298, 300, 

» 324, 325, 328, 329, 

and Head-ache, 

with Despondency of mind, 

55 55 

Disease, Complicated, case of, 
of every type — See Doctor 
Turner's letter, 
Doctor J. Biles' letter, 



322 

310 
335 
351 
358 
377 
323 

329 
333 

318 
369 
301 
292 
297 
301 

367 
371 



Ear and Head, Darting pains in, 298 



532 



INDEX. 



Erysipelas, -. 363, 365 

Erysipelas and Tumors, - 318 

Eyes, Sore, case of, - - 312 

Emaciation, case of, - - 355 

Febrile Diseases, 345, 348, 351 

Fever, cases of, 308,310,312,324 

" " 331, 338, 343. 347 

» " 351, 355,' 377 

Fever, Bilious, cases of, 293, 297 

» " 305, 310, 325 

Congestive, 326, 340, 354, 367 

Inflammatory, - 320, 358 

Intermittent, 304, 324, 331, 338 

Puerperal, - - 341 

Putrid, ... 297 

Scarlet, 305, 315, 330, 364 

Typhus, 297, 315, 329, 373, 379 

Fever and Ague, 302, 303, 348 

Fever and Chills, 300, 306, 323, 335 

Fever and Diarrhea, - 302 

Fever and Sick Head-ache, 308 

Fever and Extreme Debility, 302 

Fits, cases of, 322, 323, 331, 341 

» " - 352, 368 

Fits, Convulsive, - 352 

Fits occasioned by Croup, - 322 

Freezing, case of, - - 315 



Hand, Severe contusion of, - 
Head-ache, cases of, 305, 315, 
» 329, 331, 346, 357, 364, 
Head-ache, Nervous, 301, 306, 

55 55 

Sick, 291, 308, 315, 364, 

55 

with Foul Stomach, 
of long standing, 
Head, Darting pains in, 

Sore in, - 

Heart and Breast, Affections of, 



Heart, Malformation of, 

Palpitation of, 

Dropsy of, 
Heel, its Cartilage injured, 
Hemorrhage, 

from the Lungs, - 
Hydrocephalus, case of, 



303, 



370 
326 
371 
321 
371 
366 
368 
298 
291 
298 
292 
336 
366 
339 
327 
374 
314 
338 
331 
321 



Insanity, cases of, 378, 379, 380, 381 



Jaw, Swelling of the, 
Joint, Dislocated, 

Kidneys, Affection of, 

Limbs, Weakness in, 
Perished, 



330, 352 
313 

353 

313 
313 



Liver Complaint, 323, 326, 327, 328 
" " 348, 351, 354, 355, 369 

Liver, Inflammation of, - 357 

Liver and Spleen, Affection of, 299 
" » 323, 351, 357 

Lungs, Hemorrhage from the, 331 
Inflammation of the, 333, 337 

Measles, - - 304, 305, 315 
Menstruation, Suppressed, 326, 335 
Deranged, - - 328, 335 
Mental Derangement, 322, 335, 351 
Milk-sickness, - - - 356 

Nervous Affections, 299, 314, 337 

Pains, in the Breast, 296, 328, 329 

» » 341 

General, 303 

in the Side, and Ague-cake, 313 

55 55 55 3i9 

and Rheumatism, 300 
attended with Fever, Deli- 
rium, Cough, etc., - 291 
in the Head and Back, - 303 
Palpitation of the Heart, 303, 327 
Palsy, Numb, ... 337 
Paralysis, - 307, 362, 372, 375 
Pericardium, Dropsy of the, 374 

Phthisis, 324 

Piles, cases of, 290, 303, 306, 307 
» » 330, 331, 342, 344, 347 
Plague, Cold, - 290, 317, 318 
Pleurisy, 303, 315, 343. 344, 347 
" - 348, 351 

Pulmonary Complaint, - 324 

Prolapsus Uteri, - 328, 338 373 



Quinsy, 



322 



Rheum, Salt, ... 303 

Rheumatism, cases of, 292, 301, 306 

» 319, 321, 323, 329, 334, 341 

" 343, 345, 352, 355, 358, 360 

» - 362, 375 

Inflammatory, 292, 299, 334 

» • - 360, 361 

Ring-bone on the Ankle, - 316 

Salt Rheum, 303 

Scalds, cases of, 296, 306, 312, 315 

Scald-head, - 290, 364, 366 

Sciatica, cases of, - 316, 330 

Scrofula, - - - 351, 272 
several severe cases cured, 317 

55 55 332 333 303 

Sick Head-ache, 291, 308,' 364,' 368 
Side, Affection of the, . - 307 
Small Pox, - - 315 



INDEX. 



533 



Spasms, - 331 

Spine, Incurvation of, - 336 

Spleen and Liver, Affection of, 299 

Spleen, Distention of, 357, 370 

Stomach, Foul, - - 298 

Sickness at the, - 305,341 

Pains in the, - - 298 

St. Vitus' Dance, - 338, 373 

Swelling of the Jaw, - 330, 352 

Swelling, White, - 293, 306 

Glandular, - - 300 

Sciatic Affections, - - 290 

Sprains, cases of, - 302, 306, 331 



Tetters, 

Tic Douloureux, 
Tremor and Weakness, 
Tumors and Erysipelas, 



366 
369 
311 
318, 349 



355, 



Tumefaction, 



323, 349 



Urine, Suppression of, - 298 

Bloody, - - 354 

Urinary Canal, Inflammation of, 327 

» " " 354 

Urethra, - - 355 

Uteri, Prolapsus, - 328, 338, 373 

Affections of the, - 291 



Vertigo, 



327 



Y* eakness in the Limbs, case of, 313 
Weakness and Tremor, - ' 311 

White Swelling, - 293, 306 

Wounds, - - 321 

Weakness in the Back, - 290 



PART III 



Bile, - - ,, 423 

Blood, - - - 424 

Bone, - 415 

Brain, - - 401 

Breath, - - 399 

Cartilage, - - 414 

Chyme, - - - .421 

Diaphragm, - - - 431 

Ear, - - - 405 

Embryo, - 434 
Eye, Human, Appendages of, 407 

Head, - - 399 

Heart, - - 394 



Intestine, 



429 



Joint, 
Kidney, 

Liver, 

Lungs, 

Muscle, 
Nerves, 
Ovary, 
Pelvis, 



420 

428 

422 
396 

410 

403 

434 

432 



Skeleton, Human, Mechanism of, 383 
Spine, - 416 

Spleen, - - - 429 



Uterus, 



432 



PART IV. 



Acids, 


- 


- 


445 


Benzoin, 


- 


448 


Alkalies, 


- 


- 


446 








Aliment, 


- 


- 


463 


Caustics, 


- 


449 


Albumen, 


- 


- 


447 


Potassa, 


- 


449 


Anatomy, 


- 


- 


502 


Chimistry, 


- 


435 


Animal Heat, Oi 


igin and 


Regu- 




Chimical Decomposition, 


- 


451 


lation of, 


- 


- 


453 


Clinical Medicine, - 


- 


482 


Antidotes, 


- 


- 


487 


Contagion, - 


- 


485 


Antiaris, 


- 


- 


506 


Crisis, 


- 


473 


Bath, Saline, 


_ 


_ 


494 


Decomposition, Chimical, 


_ 


451 


Bed for Invalids, 


Hydrostatic, 


456 


Diet, 


- 


466 



534 



INDEX. 



Digestion, 


- 


466 


Medicine, Clinical, - 


482 


Disease, Hereditary, 


- 


496 


Nutrition, Animal and Vegetable 


,493 


Essential Oils, 


" 


450 


Oils, Essential, - - 


450 


Galvanism — Application 


of, to 








poisoned Wounds, 


- 


495 


Perspiration, 


470 


Granulation, 


- 


496 


Poisoned Wounds, Application 
of Galvanism to, 


495 


Hereditary Disease, - 


- 


496 


Potassa, Caustic, 


449 


Hydrostatic Bed, 


- 


456 


Pregnancy, - 


476 


Hunger, 


- 


461 


Pulse, 


503 


Heat, Animal, Origin an 


d Regu 








' lation of, 


- 


453 


Respiration, - 


469 


History of Small Pox, 


- 


498 


Saline Bath, - 


494 


Injections, 


- 


475 


Secretion, - 


472 


Irritability, - 


- 


479 


Small Pox, History of, 
Somnambulism, 


498 

474 


Life of Man, 


- 


504 


Sympathy, - 


472 



3477 



